You and No Other
by Rosara
Summary: A Harry and Ginny story. Filled with a lot of ups and downs, sex, violent quidditch, tad bit of bad language, ALL the important characters, and a buildup to a possible ending. Unexpected and chilling start to the term. SEQUEL COMING SOON if ur lucky
1. Waiting for Hedwig

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own anything in this story except the plot. Names, places and most of the people are all property of JK Rowling. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~  
  
The young man sat on the edge of the tiled roof. It was a hot day in Surrey, which was very unusual. Normally the weather, even in summer, was cool and overcast. Despite the heat, the young man- none other than Harry Potter continued to scan the horizon for any hint of movement. Harry was waiting for Hedwig, his beloved owl, who had flown out the night before and had not returned. It was now around 2:00 in the afternoon, and the sun beat down hot onto his head, beads of sweat beginning to gather on his brow. Harry was hoping for some mail from either Ron or Hermione at least. Cho always sent him something- the couple had been ferrying love letters to each other all holidays. There was no doubt about it, he would get one from Cho at least!  
  
Where could Hedwig be? Harry wondered. Not that he minded waiting, because Harry could wait all day and not be missed by anyone in the Dursley household. His cousin Dudley had gone out for the day with his friends to a violent videogame arcade. Aunt Petunia was still thinking of ways to redecorate Dudleys new ensuit, which seemed to be taking forever, and Uncle Vernon, Harry guessed, was having a cup of coffee and reading his updated drill profits for that week.  
  
Harry sank back down in a little patch of shade provided by the large oak tree next to his bedroom window. He bent the cover back on his copy of Witch Weekly's Special Edition: Top 100 Wizards of the Year. Strangely enough, Gilderoy Lockhart was no longer in the annual list, and Harry couldn't help but smirk to himself for that one. Professor Dumbledore was listed at number 1. The other top 4 in the top 5 Harry had only read about, they lived in Romania and Ireland.  
  
"Harry! Harry Potter!" an angry voice yelled.  
  
"I'm up here Aunt Petunia," Harry said, groaning inwardly, not believing his bad luck. It had actually been peaceful for a while.  
  
"Where? Where in the devil have you gotten to?" Petunia snapped, sticking her head out of the upstairs window. "Oh, you get down off that roof this instant! Have you any idea of how much it costs for Hospital bills nowadays?? If you fell and broke your neck, we would have to pay for your wheelchair and medication and Lord knows what else! And of course you have no insurance, we haven't bothered for you, so it would be double! And that would all be your fault!"  
  
"I thought I would be more out of your way up here,"Harry replied.  
  
"You get down from there before Dudley arrives home. I don't want him to see you up there, he might think you got up there with your unnaturalness, and then you'd upset him. So get down right now, boy!" She left in a huff. It was always the same. Harry was never treated with any decency while he was at home with his aunt, uncle and cousin.  
  
The screech of Hedwig made Harry look up. There she was at last and with more letters and small parcels than he expected. Wait! There was another owl- this one was huge and it also had a parcel. Harry shimmied quickly down the drainpipe and dropped through his window into his bedroom. He didn't bother going carefully, Vernon and Petunia could pay the bloody hospital bills until they were blue in the face for all he cared.  
  
Hedwig followed him in and perched on his bed post. The eagle owl entered and perched on the window sill. Gently, Harry detached the letters and parcels from his huge claws. The huge Owl then immediately went to Hedwigs food bowl. That didn't go down too well with Hedwig, and she squawked angrily at him before nibbling at Harry's ear instead.  
  
Harry stared at the letter and parcels he had retrieved from both Hedwig and the eagle owl. The first letter was torn and dirty, written in a hurried messy scrawl. But there was no mistaking the writing- that script was familiar, Harry had recieved countless letters written in the exact same fashion! It was from Sirius!  
  
Harry tore the letter open eagerly. Two thick sheets of parchment fell onto his lap. He picked up the first and began to read:  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
You will never believe the news! My name is cleared! I'm a free man! I know it seems so hard to believe right now but its true! It all started about a week ago when i was caught- Aurors searched my area for lurking deatheaters. You will never believe this either- Peter Pettigrew was in the area too. So instead of the dementors kiss I was sure I would get, I was granted a trial. Remus testified and Peter, finally pleaded guilty! The other note I sent you is a copy of my release parchments, so I'm home! Peter of course got a life sentence in Azkaban. I don't envy him either.  
  
I now have a house outside Hogmeade in the country that the ministry gave me in courtesy of my life spent unjustly in Azkaban. I'm writing to ask you if you would like to spend the last few weeks of the summer holidays with me. Ron and Hermione are invited too, as there is plenty of room. Please send your reply by owl immediately. Oh, Happy Birthday, Harry! You'll find your present in the parcel.  
  
From your loving Godfather, Sirius  
  
PS: Buckbeak wasn't found, so he's still living with me- this time in the back paddock.  
  
Harry smiled in disbelief and delight. Sirius was free! He almost had to restrain himself from yelling YES! It was such relief. Now he could see Sirius whenever he wanted , he could talk with him and best of all, he could stay with him! Harry could actually leave the Dursleys for a while! It may not sound like much, but this was some of the best news that Harry had ever heard in his entire life, except, maybe that he had been accepted into Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry!  
  
He immediately wrote Ron and Hermione a letter each about Sirius and his release, inviting them to stay with him and Sirius. Then he wrote to Cho, about how much he missed her, and of course where he would be staying for the next couple of weeks.  
  
Harry had forgotten all about himself. It was of course his 16th birthday. He looked at the other pile of small parcels that Hedwig had brought in. Ron and Hermione had certainly not forgotten him!  
  
He opened Sirius's present first. It was a pair of Pegasus Boots that allowed the wearer to walk on water. "Wow, Sirius!" Harry exclaimed to himself. He stuffed them on just for the sake of wearing a present from someone. Hermione had given him a Broomstick Twig-Balancing kit, which was used to keep the twigs even and straight to offer the smoothest possible flight. With a huge smile, Harry opened Ron's present. It was a Giant-sized box of bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans! From both of them together, he had recieved a small picture frame of himself riding around on his firebolt with stars and lightning sparking from the twigs. Harry was reminded immediately of his second year at Hogwarts, and the photo of Lockhart waving arrogantly at the camera that Harry had seen while helping Lockhart answer his fan mail in a Detention. How painful...... But now Harry just laughed. No doubt, Hermione and Ron thought it would be a bit of a joke too. From Cho, Harry had recieved a Kissing Card, which opened up giving him a papery kiss, leaving pink love hearts floating around the room. He laughed and silently wished he was with her.  
  
The last letter was small and white and not from anyone, or so it seemed, as it was unmarked. He opened it, and, magically, out popped a small bright red flower. I seemed to be alive and was coughing up smoke and sparks from it's petalled depths, slowly folding and unfolding it's leaves like wings. It was a Sneezing Snapdragon! Harry had only ever read about these rare plant creatures. He gazed at it in admiration. I had to be one of the best, most interesting presents he had ever recieved! He checked the letter again, and saw only a "Happy Birthday, Harry" written on the card. Then his eyes were drawn to the bottom, right hand side. A small "G" was written there. Ginny! Why had she sent him such a wondrful present? She NEVER gave him Birthday presents, so what had changed this time?  
  
Before he had time to think too much about it, an enraged shriek pierced the silence."What! That colour! Its bloody horrible!" Dudley was obviously home.  
  
"What do you think's wrong with it, Pumpkin?" Asked a worried Petunia.  
  
"It's the wrong colour, and it's just awful!" Dudley shouted.  
  
"Well, what other colour did you want?" Petunia tried to calm her son, although not succeeding very well at all.  
  
"Anything but that pig's garbage," Dudley yelled.  
  
"We have Lime Green or Mauve to use instead, Bumpkins," Petunia crooned.  
  
"That'd look even worse. This room looks crap already. What a dump."  
  
"Nonsense, Son, this room'll look terrific by the time it's finished." Vernon spoke up for the first time, "And you certainly can't have more motorbike wallpaper in this room too!!"  
  
"Why not? If you gave Harry my second bedroom, you can bloody well let me have motorbike wallpaper! That's nothing!" Dudley shrieked again.  
  
"Yes but Duddykins, this is your ensuite, not your room. You know what an ensuite is, don't you darling?" Petunia asked her son timidly.  
  
"I don't care what you call it! This is my room and I'll have what I like in it! If you paint it that dirgy colour, I'll punch the wall down!" Dudley bellowed. Harry thought that the threat wasn't exactly exaggerated. His temper had increased along with his weight over the past few years.  
  
"Don't worry Duddy, we'll have it how you want it in no time, Sweetums." Petunia reassured him.  
  
Harry laughed out loud. Stupid fat brat that Dudley was! It was incredible the way he dominated his parents. And it happened often. Dudley was often bullying his parents to get his own way, and it always worked.  
  
Crap! He could hear Dudley's thumping tread coming up the stairs. Oh, he didn't hear me laughing, did he? Harry moaned. Just what he needed. Dudley to come and bully him. Sure enough, the door crashed open and Dudley appeared there looking fat and annoying, as usual. "What was that sniggering for, Pot-Head?" Dudley demanded.  
  
"It wasn't me!" Harry cried innocently, "You must be hearing things!" Then he added slyly, "that isn't a good sign you know Dudley. Not even in the wizarding world." Dudley went bright red. Harry had very nearly called him a wizard, which was almost as low as you could go according to the Dursleys. And he could tell that Dudley was very nearly about to punch his lights out for it.  
  
"What are those poxy things?" Dudley pointed to his presents on his bed. "They look cheap as buggery, where did you get 'em from?" He barked.  
  
"Actually, they are presents from my friends, loser. It is my birthday after all Dudley."  
  
"Since when do you have friends?" Dudley seem genuinely baffled.  
  
"Since I left this dump for school six years ago Dudley, now go away." Dudley turn to leave, but decided at the last moment to whack hedwig's cage over. It fell to the ground with a tremendous crash, Hedwig shrieking furiously.  
  
"What is going on in here??" Vernon's angry, purple face appeared at the door.  
  
"Harry threw that bloody pidgeon at me, Dad!" Dudley wailed.  
  
"I did not, he bashed it over!" Harry cried, moving to place the cage back on the mantle.  
  
"Don't lie to me, boy. I know what you did, so you can just stop your funny business at once." Vernon growled.  
  
"Funny business? I wasn't doing magic! And Dudley's the liar!" Harry almost yelled back at him.  
  
"Don't you take that tone with me, boy! I'll not be spoken to like that, Howard Potter!"  
  
"Harry," Harry cut in.  
  
"......We have given you the food off our table, clothed you in the garments you wear on your ungrateful back, given you Dudley's second bedroom, and still you turn up your bloody ungrateful nose! Well, I've had just about enough of that, boy!" Vernon raged. "From now on, no more special outings!"  
  
"I don't have outings anyway," Harry told him, "I haven't had an outing here for six years."  
  
"What was I just saying about ungrateful!" Vernon shrieked to Dudley, "Well, don't think I'll allow you to go on any excursions to the park anytime soon, because you'll not be going!"  
  
"What?!" Harry yelled, "It's just down the street!"  
  
"I don't care if it's to Buckingham bloody Palace and back, you'll not be going, I tell you!" Vernon moved back to the door. Hedwig squawked at him "And control that bloody pidgeon, for the last time, boy!!" He barked, bashing Hedwig's cage, which flew off the mantle yet again. Then he stormed out the room, Dudley on his heels, smiling smugly.  
  
Harry moved to pick up Hegwig again. He was used to this kind of treatment, but it had gotten worse three years ago, when aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon found out that he was not allowed to practice magic outside of school. Now they no longer feared that he would turn them into anything "nasty" as Vernon liked to put it. They just treated him like a freak.  
  
****  
  
The sun was setting and the eagle owl was restless. Harry finished the last three sentences on his letter to Sirius and sent the owl back towards Hogsmeade. He prayed that Sirius would pick him up very soon. He didn't think he could last much longer in Privet Drive. 


	2. Harry's Girlfriend

The holidays passed in a flash, much to Harry's disappointment. It wasn't that he didn't want to return to Hogwarts, but rather that he was dying to spend more time with Sirius. During his stay, Harry had discovered two important things:  
  
1. Sirius was the best Godfather ever! Not only had he given them a taste of what magic he could perform- which was basically:  
  
turning his cottage invisable,  
  
fake fire with no heat,  
  
changing the colour of every carpet and piece of furniture in his house  
  
changing his dog, Rufus into a huge horse (they used him to ride into Hogsmeade to buy yummie gummie chews). A little childish Harry knew, but he had missed out on quite a lot when he was younger.  
  
Sirius also seemed like family for Harry. He had never known anyone like this, so by the time everyone had to return, Harry and Sirius were very close.  
  
2. Ron and Hermione were also an official couple. Harry had caught them in the loft together, snogging their little hearts out!  
  
"What! Finally!" Came Harrys reaction. He was very sick of Ron and Hermione not doing anything about each other (this had been going on since last year!!) when it was clear that they were a perfect match. Ron looked embarassed as usual. His ears went all red. Hermione on the other hand tried to pretend that Ron had somehow slipped her a love spell, which made Harry just laugh hysterically.  
  
The four of them had arrived back at Hogwarts to start another term. Ginny spent more and more time with them and it soon became a group of four. Cho had spent endless hours with Harry everyday, much to Hermione and Ginny's annoyance. They didn't like Cho very much and Harry knew this, which rather disappointed him, but still, he didn't want this to ruin his special relationship with Cho.  
  
Nothing out of the ordinary happened at Hogwarts that term, which was surprising- if you belonged in Harrys group! Another normal friday morning came around and the four were checking through their Herbology when Professor McGonagall called out to Harry.  
  
"A collection of air mail arrived early this morning Harry, it should be up in your dorm now. Something from Sirius.. I think" Harry's eyes widened. Sirius, again!  
  
****  
  
Cho had been going out with Harry for about half a year. Harry had asked her out in his 5th year, on Valentines Day. He had given her a box of Honeyduke's Chocolates and a bunch of huge red roses. Cho could still remember the sweet scent of them, and the first tender kiss they shared, that same beautiful day.  
  
She could see Harry now, two spell books in his arms, just out from Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was so handsome, with his scruffy black hair and strong firm body. He had grown up a lot the past year. Whereas a year before he had been childishly cute and boyish, now he was masculine and, well hot, Cho couldn't help but think to herself. He looked up and caught her eye, giving her a brilliant smile. What are you so happy about, Harry Potter? Cho wondered. But she didn't complain. When Harry was in one of those moods, there was plenty of fun to be had, especially by her, his girlfriend.  
  
The rest of the class filed out behind and around him, and Ginny came up the corridor to meet her brother and his girlfriend, Hermione. Ginny said a quick "Hi" to Harry, proceding to chat quickly and excitedly with Hermione. Cho watched, a little hurt, as Hermione glanced up at her and gave her a cold look. She didn't know why, but she and Hermione had never been friends. Whereas Cho could get along with almost everyone, she could never get close to Hermione, and doubted she'd ever be friends with her.  
  
Shoving the thought out of her head, she walked up to Harry and kissed him gently on the lips. He returned the kiss fervantly, placing an arm around her waist. But before they could deepen the kiss, they were broken apart by a certain red-headed male, yelling excitedly.  
  
"Hey, Cho! You have to see this! You know Sirius right? Well, he sent us all presents! Harry won't let us open them until you're here, so hurry up, I wanna open mine! Harry, get off her and let me lead her up to the Common Room. I can't wait to see what I've got!"  
  
With a smile for Harry, recieving another glare from Hermione, and one from Ginny this time too, Cho let Ron lead her up to Gryffindor Tower. Ron had always been nice to her, and she really liked him, in a brotherly sort of way. Hermione is a lucky girl to have snagged him. Cho thought to herself. He's one of the good ones. Like my Harry. She smiled to herself. My Harry. He was hers.............  
  
They reached the Gryffindor Common Room and Ron bounded up the Boy's Dormitory steps, with Harry close at his heels, shoving him into the stone wall (with all the maturity of an eight year old) in a hurry to get there first. Ginny laughed and Hermione giggled too. Cho turned to face them.  
  
"So, what's all the excitement about, girls? Why is Ron so hyperactive? They're just presents, right?" Cho asked them. Ginny studied her, as if she was trying to decide whether she was worth answering or not.  
  
"You'll see." Was her reply. Cho sighed. Ginny was almost as bad as Hermione. Cold and unfriendly. She guessed that had something to do with Harry though. Cho had seen the way Ginny looked at him. Her silly little crush for Harry had not died over the years as it damn well should have. If anything, she looked at Harry now with even more longing. Well, you're not going to get him, dear. Cho thought to herself, Harry's mine, so forget about him.  
  
Just then, Ron and Harry came stampeding down the dormitory steps, carrying large bundles covered in different colours of velvet.  
  
"Here you are, Ginny," Harry said to her, giving her a smile. She grinned in delight as he handed her a long thin parcel. By the shape of it, Cho guessed that it was a broomstick of some sort. Harry seemed to have gotten the same.  
  
"Hey Hermione, this is for you," Ron told her, passing her a book-shaped parcel. That was no surprise, Cho thought to herself, What else could you get for Hermione??  
  
They all opened their parcels, and Cho could tell that Harry had already opened his, as the velvet wrappings were messed up. Cho noticed that she had gotten nothing, but it didn't really bother her, she didn't know this 'Sirius' like the Harry and his friends did. She didn't expect anything from him. An excited shriek brought her thoughts back to the present.  
  
"Oh my God! Harry, look!" Ginny squealed, "I've got an Orbit! An Orbit!! They are like the best racing broom out!! It must have cost Sirius a fortune! Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!" She ran her fingers down the silver birch shaft in wonder. Harry sat down next to her and excitedly showed her his Orbit.  
  
"They're beautiful, aren't they, Gin? I told Sirius that you were the new Keeper, so he must have taken that into consideration when buying for us! Hell, I never would have thought you and me would both own the best broom on the market! Way better than even the Firebolts! Slytherin don't stand a chance with you and me to belt 'em up on these beauties!" Harry was talking so excitedly and enthusiastically to Ginny that Cho was forgotten for the moment. She felt like a spectator, or an unwanted visitor, gate-crashing a members-only party. The rapt look on Ginny's face annoyed her. Who did she think she was, staring up into MY boyfriend's face so lovingly?? He's MY boyfriend, dammit! She was about to slap the silly bint when Ron bellowed at everyone to look at his present.  
  
"Bloody hell! Take a gander at this, everyone!" Ron was holding up a huge, brightly-coloured hat. It had star and moon patterns on it, in silver and gold silk. The rest of it was moss-green velvet. "You know what this is, right?!" Ron practically shrieked with delight, stuffing it on his head, "It's an Idarion Wizard's Hat! I can pull real ideas out of it, and it changes colour!" As they watched, the hat changed it's hue from green to red, almost matching his hair. Hermione laughed.  
  
"You look gorgeous in it, Ron!" Hermione grinned. Cho looked at the book in her hands.  
  
"What's that you have, Hermione?" She asked her, almost cautiously. Harry finally noticed her presence at the sound of her voice and got up from where he was crouched (FAR too close to Ginny, Cho thought) and got back up to sit with her on the couch, putting his arm around Cho's back. Hermione glanced up at her.  
  
"Oh, it's a book," She told her bluntly. Cho heard Harry's sigh of frustration. Cho hadn't been the only one to notice Hermione's coldness towards her.  
  
"We can see that, Mione, but what's it about?" He asked impatiently. Hermione scowled at Harry, but decided to tell him anway.  
  
"It's a costume book. A magical one. You tear out a bit of the page of the costume that you like and say a few magic words over it. In a few hours, you have the entire costume from the book made magically for you. You can modify the costume too, to suit you. Pretty cool, Huh?" She finished smugly. Harry looked impressed.  
  
"That IS Cool, Hermione." He told her. Suddenly, he turned to Cho. "Hey, babe," he said lovingly to her. She turned and faced him. "You know how you have to borrow the crappy school brooms because Malfoy flogged yours? Well, I was thinking, you can have my old Firebolt now. I won't be needing it, of course, and I can't think of anyone more perfect for it." He kissed the tip of her nose. Cho could feel the daggers shooting out of Ginny's eyes.  
  
"Oh thankyou, Harry! That's so sweet of you! I'd love to have your Firebolt!" She gave him a long pash, half watching Ginny to see the little tarts' reaction.  
  
Ginny stood up. "Ok, I'd say Dinner is just about ready. How about we go down now?" She asked them.  
  
"You go ahead, Ginny. I'll be down with Cho a bit later." Harry told her, giving Cho a suggestive smile. Ginny, upset, turned and stormed out of the Common Room. Ron and Hermione followed her, hand in hand.  
  
"Finally, it's just you and me, Harry." Cho exclaimed. She leant into him and put her head on his shoulder. "I've been waiting for some time alone with you."  
  
"You and me both!" Harry laughed. He turned her to face him and looked at her seriously. "Do you realise that we've been going out for like, half a year now? And I still love you just as much as I did when we first started dating. More, really." Cho smiled at him.  
  
"I love you too Harry. I've never felt this way about anyone......else," she finished, slightly uncomfortably. As much as Harry wanted to forget it, the fact that Cho had dated Cedric Diggory, the boy he had accidently lead to his death, was always a burden on their relationship. Harry just tried to avoid the subject whenever it came up.  
  
"So when do you think it's the right time?" Cho asked Harry meaningfully. He glanced quickly at her.  
  
"What, to... you know... have sex?" Harry asked hesitantly.  
  
"Mmmmm, yeah." Cho nodded. She grinned at him mischeiviously.  
  
"Well...not sure," Harry replied slightly uncomfortable. Cho gave him a devilish smile.  
  
"Why not...now?" She began unbuttoning his shirt. Harry's eyes widened in shock. He certainly wasn't prepared for that! He knew that Cho wasn't a virgin, but he was! He didn't even really know what to do!  
  
"Uh, maybe not just now, Cho. Sometime soon though," he suggested. Cho grinned slyly. Cedric had been her first, which made Harry uncomfortable at the best of times. It was no secret that Cedric had been a bit of a Playboy back in 4th year, and all the girls had labelled him "Sex God." True, he did feel a little uncomfortable knowing that his girlfriend was not a virgin. He wasn't even sure if he did want to sleep with her. He just gathered that Cho would expect it of him, after she had been with Cedric "hot-rod" Diggory.  
  
Gently, she leant over and kissed him. He returned her kiss and slowly, she pushed him down onto the moroon velvet couch. Kissing his neck, she quickly tugged off his tie and pulled his sweater over his head. Pulling off her sweater, she placed quick kisses along his jawline. Harry wasn't sure whether he liked not being the dominant one in this, but he let Cho procede with her unbuttoning anyway. He decided that he certainly did not like being the minor in sex after she unbuttoned her shirt by herself and wouldn't let him do it for her. "Bugger this," he mumbled, and was about to flip her over when someone came crashing through the Portrait Hole.  
  
"Shit!!" Harry swore, quickly pulling himself up off the couch and trying to wrench his tie back over his head. Cho sat up, looking annoyed, but not embarrassed in the slightest. Harry was quickly turning an incredible shade of crimson.  
  
"Neville! What the hell are you doing here!?" Harry shouted. Neville looked shocked.  
  
"What do you mean 'what the hell am i doing here'?" Neville asked. "This is my common room too, Harry."  
  
"Oh, Yeah." Harry said. "Well yeah, um, Cho and I were just about to go down for Dinner." Harry tried to cover up for himself.  
  
"What's she doing here in Gryffindor Tower? She's a Ravenclaw, Harry! She's not allowed in here!" Neville gasped in indignation.  
  
"Yeah well, you get that." Harry told him off-handedly. "Come on, Cho. Let's go down for a bite to eat."  
  
He and Cho quickly put their sweaters back on and Harry did up his shirt and clumsily tried to put his tie back on. In the end, Cho had to do it for him. Laughing, she lead him out of the Common Room. Harry didn't laugh. He didn't think his sad-assed attempt at sex, or being caught at it was funny at all. 


	3. Quidditch Training

Ginny sighed. She had actually left Harry and Cho alone together in the Common Room. She knew that they had gotten up to something together, because Ginny had been waiting in the Great Hall for them to come down for dinner, and she had been waiting quite a long time. When they finally did come down, they had been flushed and Harry had acted very strangely, not looking anyone in the eye during conversations. Ginny had almost punched Cho. Her smug, self-satisfied smirk was enough to make Ginny mad with anger. Skank. Ginny thought. You would. After Cedric Diggory, I'm not surprised that you'd make Harry do it too. Ginny was practically fuming. How she hated Cho. She glared at her, narrowing her eyes and curling her top lip. She knew she must look like a right jealous little so-and-so, but she didn't care. After all, she was jealous!  
  
She felt someone's eyes on her and looked up to see Harry staring at her. He averted his eyes as soon as Ginny saw him, though. She looked him up and down. He certainly looked as if he'd been up to something with Cho. His hair was very ruffled, the top button on his shirt wasn't done up, and his glasses weren't sitting straight. He looked almost comical, and Ginny would have laughed at him, had the reason for his untidiness not been Cho. Harry glanced at her again and gave her a guilty smile. Ginny glared back at him. Stupid twit, She thought to herself. Anyone can see that Cho's a manipulative little cow...Except you. Why did Ginny have to love him so much? It wasn't fair, she loved him hopelessly with all her heart, and yet, he never gave her a second look. She sighed in defeat. She knew it would never happen. She knew that Harry wouldn't leave Cho, especially not for her. I just have to learn to forget about him, she thought to herself. Then maybe it won't hurt me so badly whenever I see him with Cho...........  
  
****  
  
Before Ginny knew it, two weeks had passed. It was Monday, and she was loaded down with more and more homework for the week. What made that somewhat more bearable though, was having Harry to help her. Sometimes Hermione helped her, but a lot of the time she was called away by Ron pashing her. Ginny wouldn't ever get Ron to help her, though. She didn't want him giving her a heap of cock-and-bull answers that she'd get nothing but a big "F" for. So most of the time, it was just her and Harry.  
  
They were good friends now, and Ginny tried hard to conceal the fact that she wanted to be more than that with Harry. She didn't think he suspected her true feelings, or he never let on if he did. The time she spent with Harry doing her homework was the best time of her Hogwart's life. Just being in his company was good enough, but to have him next to her, laughing with her and talking with her was more than Ginny had ever hoped for. She felt so comfortable with him, so special. Everything he said to her mattered, and he would take her homework so seriously, making more effort than she did to make sure she'd get a high mark. He wouldn't let her miss a thing when he explained something, and the serious, concentrated look on his face often had her in fits on the common room floor. She couldn't help it, and she knew it annoyed him when he was trying to explain something important to her, but a lot of the time, her mind wasn't on her Homework when she was with him. She couldn't help but notice his gorgeous smile or his manly chest when she was mere inches away from him. As much as she always tried to tell herself that Harry wasn't worth her affections and that he was a stupid moron for dating Cho, she knew that she still loved him. It annoyed the hell out of her, yet she couldn't help but think that everything about Harry was perfect, gorgeous and admirable.  
  
Ginny had just finished her homework with Hermione's help this time (to Ginny's disappointment), and was getting ready for Quidditch Practise. Harry was probably alone with bloody Cho again, getting ready for the practise together or something. Ginny had heard all day that Cho was going to come out and watch Harry train for the Quidditch match against her team (Ravenclaw) on saturday. Ginny stuffed her quidditch gloves on and carefully pulled her Orbit out from under her bed, where it was wrapped tightly and securly in its velvet wrappings. This would be the first time she'd use it, and Harry too. She knew that he was very eager to try out his Orbit at Quidditch practise. He had been practically bouncing in his seat at dinner.  
  
Ginny carried it downstairs and was surprised to see Harry waiting in the Common room.  
  
"Isn't Ron down yet, Harry?" Ginny asked him.  
  
"No, it's not him I was waiting for," Harry smiled at her. "I was waiting for my fellow Orbit-owner."  
  
Ginny laughed, "Fellow Orbit-owner?? Very cute name, Harry. What about Cho? Isn't she going to watch you play tonight?" Ginny asked rather tentatively.  
  
"Oh, I think she can find her own way down to the pitch without getting lost, don't you?" Harry laughed. Ginny smiled, a little forcably. I wish she would get lost, Ginny thought to herself. A sudden thought struck her.  
  
"And you think I can't find my own way there, do you?" She asked incredulously. Harry actually blushed. But he couldn't have, could he? Ginny asked herself.  
  
"I just thought I'd make a grand-entrance with my fellow Orbit owner!" Harry grinned. "We own the best brooms in the world, we have to give them a decent introduction!" Ginny's heart sank. Dammit. I was hoping for a "That's because I like you more than Cho" excuse. You really have to stop being so hopeful, Ginny. Harry Doesn't like you!  
  
"Guess so," She told him, rather bluntly. "Come on then, we've got to get going." She swept past him and out of the portrait hole. Harry followed her, jogging to catch up.  
  
"Why the rush, Gin?" He almost panted. Ginny raised one eyebrow at him.  
  
"Just a little thing called Quidditch practise, Harry dear," she told him sarcastically. He frowned at her, then he nodded.  
  
"Guess that's a good enough reason."  
  
They walked together in awkward silence. Ginny closed her eyes for a moment. Why did I have to be such a bitch to him just before? God, I bet he hates me now. She glanced at Harry. He didn't seem to look hurt at all, but just to be on the safe side (and because she certainly didn't want Harry hating her) she leant over and squeezed his hand. She never thought he'd think of that in any way other than being companiable, but he stopped walking and stared down at her searchingly. Ginny raised her eyebrows questionably.  
  
"What?" She asked him. He looked at her a moment more, then shook his head. He squeezed her hand back and then walked on.  
  
"Nothing, Gin. Nothing at all." She frowned and shook her head. Whatever.  
  
When they finally got to the Quidditch Pitch, everyone was already there waiting for them. Cho jumped up and ran to Harry, giving him a big hug and a kiss. Ginny rolled her eyes in annoyance and got on her broom. She noticed that Harry didn't bother with his Orbit-Grand-Entrance thing like he told her he was planning on doing.  
  
"All right! Come on everyone, on your brooms and get going!" She yelled to everyone. They obediantly hopped on their brooms and kicked off from the ground. Ron threw the Quaffle in the air for the Chaser and the Keeper (Ginny), and released the Bludgers. Lastly, he released the Snitch for Harry and they were finally all in the air.  
  
Ginny went to her goal posts to defend them from the three Chasers and waited for an onslaught. The Chasers (Ron, Colin Creevey and a pretty 4th year named Mandy Rickets) were trying out a heap of moves in the middle of the pitch. Great. Ginny thought sarcastically. I'm gonna have lot's of fun here doing nothing. She flew to one of the goal posts and leant against it. She watched Godrey and Geoffry, the two beaters, belt the bludgers at Dennis. She laughed out loud when he copped on in the stomache and started whinging. Harry was high above her, searching for the Snitch, trying out a few moves now and then to keep himself busy. Ginny yawned and blinked a few times.  
  
"Ron! Am I going to get to do anything, or not??" She yelled at her brother. He looked up and yelled back at her.  
  
"We're just trying out a few moves, Gin! We'll be finished in a minute!"  
  
Ginny nodded, then decided to give the Orbit a whizz. She flew up high, higher than the stands, higher than the top box. Far out. This baby isn't even having any trouble at all! And it's so quick! She spun around a few times and made a few dives. A voice at her shoulder startled her.  
  
"Trying out your Orbit, hey Gin?" Harry asked, grinning. Ginny melted at that. God, he looks hot when he grins like that.  
  
"Um, yeah. They're pretty good, hey Harry?"  
  
"Pretty good?! They're the best broom I've ever ridden! And that's saying a lot!" He exclaimed passionately.  
  
"Yeah yeah, ok. They are the best broom I've ever ridden too. Although, that isn't saying a lot!" She laughed, thinking of her family's financial state. It didn't really bother her anymore and she was able to joke about it. Ron, on the other hand, hated it, and was really sensitive whenever the subject was brought up.  
  
Harry laughed at her joke too, "You've ridden a few, but this is certainly the best one by far!"  
  
Ginny grinned,  
  
"I reckon" she told him. Suddenly, a voice intruded on their conversation. Ron was yelling angrily up at them.  
  
"OI! Ginny! Come down here and Practise, would you! We just stopped for you, and then we find out that you're not even at the goal-posts like you're meant to be! Come on, or we'll belt this bloody Quaffle straight through those blasted hoops of yours!" Ginny laughed down at him.  
  
"Yes, ok, I'm coming Ron! Seeya later, Harry." She winked at him and flew down to the goal posts.  
  
****  
  
Harry watched her fly off. She really was gorgeous, he had to admit. With her wild flame-coloured hair streaming out behind her and her face flushed with excitement, she was a sight to behold. He caught himself staring and mentally shook himself. She was just Ginny, one of his good mates. He wasn't perving on her. Certainly not! He looked down for a sight of Cho, and saw her dark head in the stands. He was thinking about giving up looking for the snitch and going to pash Cho, when a loud, triumphant cheer broke through his thoughts.  
  
"Yeah! Sucked in Ron! Good job sonny, but not good enough for me!" He heard Ginny shrieking triumphantly. Ron was trying to yell at her about it being unfair or something, but Ginny was just laughing.  
  
Harry grinned. He loved her competitive streak. It made her so interesting. Everything about her was interesting. And incredible, and loveable. Harry remembered back a while ago when she had squeezed his hand. It had shocked him. He knew that she only meant it as a friendly gesture, but it had still worried him. He didn't want her to think of him like that. He thought of her as a sister, so he had just gathered over the months that she thought of him as a brother. He hoped to all hell that her crush on him was over. It was so long ago now that he had guessed that it had ended ages ago. She used to be so besotted with him, but that was years ago and she was younger then. He didn't think of her in that way anyway. Ginny was just, well, Ginny. She was Ron's little sister, a great buddy of his, but nothing more than that. Not like Cho, his beautiful, perfect Cho. He loved her deeply, and not like a brother loves a sister. Like a man loves a woman.  
  
A flash of gold caught his eye and he tore after it. He was glad to have something else to keep his mind away from the two females down below. Harry performed a few fancy moves and easily caught the Snitch. He flew back to the ground just as Ron blew the whistle for end of practise. He was about to compliment Ginny on her excellent Keeping, when Cho came up to him and whispered playfully in his ear,  
  
"Nice fly, Harry."  
  
Harry turned to face her. "You think so?" He grinned at her.  
  
"Yeah.........it's undone." Cho's eyes sparkled. Harry's eyes flew open and he struggled to quickly do his fly up, turning as crimson as his Quidditch robes. Everyone on the Quidditch team started laughing. Harry wanted to crawl under the stands and die. God, what an embarrassment. He thought to himself. And I bet Ginny saw, too. Great.  
  
Cho turned back to him after being in fits of giggles on the ground and kissed him.  
  
"It doesn't matter, Harry. No one saw anything. Apart from me, that is." She put her arms about his neck, but Harry wasn't in the mood for a big snog with her, especially not in front of his Quidditch team, who were all still laughing their heads off at his expense. Harry shrugged Cho's arms off of him and walked to the Changerooms. He knew that his offhand gesture had probably hurt Cho, but he didn't care right now. He'd apologise later. 


	4. Stirring the Cauldron

Harry walked down from Divination at the North Tower. According to Professor Trelawney, he was really going to die this time. Every other month she had told him he would die some painful death, but this time apparently, he really would go. Harry didn't care, he was used to being told he was going to die.  
  
There were three weeks until Halloween and the Ball that was going to be held for it. It was to be a fancy dress ball, and so Cho told him that she was going to make his costume for him. The Quidditch Match against Ravenclaw was on saturday. The Gryffindor team had only practised once for the whole year, and that was only a few days ago, when Harry had forgotten to do up his fly. Cho was really rubbing in the fact that her team were very organised and rearing to go for the match and took great delight in telling Harry that they were going to thrash the pants off Gryffindor. Harry knew this was complete crap, because he was the best Seeker Hogwarts had seen in a century, and so he reminded Cho of that every time she thought she'd have another dig about the Gryffindor Quidditch team.  
  
Harry plonked himself down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and began to eat his lunch. Ginny came and sat next to him.  
  
"How are you, Harry?" She asked cheerfully, "I haven't seen you all morning."  
  
"Oh, I'm fine thanks, Gin. I've had double ruddy Divination this morning, so it's no wonder you haven't seen much of me. I've been locked up in North Tower." Harry told her, a slight grin on his face.  
  
"Locked up? Trelawnley's not that bad is she? You make her sound like Filch!" Ginny laughed. "Well, guess what? I've managed to land myself a detention. I had double Potions this morning, and Snape was in a seriously bad mood. He gave me a detention for...what was it? Oh yes, he told me I was tarting with Colin Creevey while we were making our potions. What bulltwang! I just laughed at him when he told me that, so now I have to clean all the spare cauldrons and glassware in his classroom. And that's a lot of glass. God, Snape's a bastard." Ginny finished.  
  
"Oh, thanks, Gin. You've got Snape in a great mood for me this afternoon. I have Potions after lunch, and if you managed to get a detention for something as small as flirting with Creevey, I'm sure I could get one just for breathing!" Harry exclaimed, "By the way, you weren't really flirting with Colin, were you?" Harry added hesitantly.  
  
Ginny laughed, "No! Colin needed help with his potion, and you know how good he is! He's a bit like Neville when it comes to Potions, so I had to help him! It wasn't my fault that my top button was undone, it's really hot in Snape's classroom when you're making potions. And Colin had to try to look down my top, didn't he? He just decided to be a perve, and I got the blame for it. It's a bit vicious, hey?" Ginny spoke quickly, getting herself worked up.  
  
"It is a bit," Harry breathed in relief. He had been hoping that she hadn't been flirting with Creevey.  
  
"Harry!" A voice interrupted their conversation. It was Cho. Ginny groaned. "Harry, do you want to come and eat with me at the Ravenclaw table today? I don't think the Ravenclaws will pay you out too bad for having such a crappy, unorganised Quidditch team." She smirked at Ginny, and Ginny smirked sarcastically back. Harry grinned devilishly.  
  
"Get lost. I'm the best Seeker Hogwarts has seen in a century. While your Seeker is a plain old Dud." He told her, grinning at his girlfriend. Cho narrowed her eyes at him, then laughed.  
  
"A Dud, am I? I could whip your ass in Quidditch any day, Harry!" She grabbed his arm and hauled him out of his seat, laughing. Harry gave Ginny an apologetic look and followed Cho, wrapping his arm around her waist. He couldn't help but notice the crushed look on Ginny's face as he walked off.  
  
****  
  
Harry walked slowly to Potions that afternoon. He just knew he was going to get a detention. Again. He always scored a few detentions from Snape. And he knew that this time would be no different. Harry smiled. Well, if I'm going to get a Detention, I might as well earn it properly.  
  
"What's that grin for, Harry?" Ron caught up to him. "What are you planning?"  
  
"Oh, nothing, Ron." Harry told his best friend. "Where's Hermione?" He asked Ron quizzically. Ron never usually went anywhere without Hermione, especially now they were going out.  
  
"Oh, Miss Square simply had to go ahead and check her homework with Snape before the lesson started." Ron exclaimed sarcastically, but grinning anyway.  
  
"Good. She won't get into trouble as well then." Harry stated.  
  
"Into--what?? What are you on about, Harry?" Ron questioned.  
  
"What do you think I'm on about, Ron? Apparently, Snape's in the shittest mood, so I'm gonna get a detention whether I try to get one or not. I might as well have a bit of fun while I'm at it. And you can help me," Harry grinned. It had been a while since he'd purposely shit-stirred in Snape's class. Ron's face widened in a huge grin.  
  
"Wicked. I'm in! What do you reckon we should do?" Ron asked enthusiastically. Harry thought for a moment.  
  
"We definately have to do something to Malfoy, whatever we do. Blow his potion up in his face or something?" Harry suggested.  
  
"Or we could swap one or two of his ingredients over for something seriously toxic. He'd be up in the hospital wing for weeks!" Ron almost bellowed in excitement.  
  
"Awsome idea!" Harry's eyes glinted. "Alright, you get the ingredients to swap, and I'll do the swapping, ok?"  
  
"You're on!" Ron shrieked again. He and Harry walked quickly the rest of the way. When they got there, Hermione was already paired up with Neville. She gave Ron a sorry look and mouthed across the room at him that 'it was the safest thing for Neville.' Ron screwed up his nose and glared at Neville. Harry dragged him to his couldron and set up the ingredients. He had made sure that they had chosen next to the spot that Malfoy and Crabbe usually sat at.  
  
"Get the ingredients while Snape's out of the room and get on with it, Ron!" Harry hissed to Ron.  
  
"Oh, right." Ron mumbled and got up, pretending to go over to talk to Hermione, but dropping a book next to the store room entrance instead. He purposely stumbled on it, sending the book flying through the store room door.  
  
"Whoops," Ron told the class casually, and went to 'retrieve his book.' He came out of the store room a few seconds later with it. He shuffled over to Malfoy's couldron and swapped the ingredients over just as Snape swept into the classroom with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle at his heels.  
  
"Bugger, that was pretty close!" Ron exclaimed. "Don't ask me what I got. It was too dark to see. I just flogged whatever was there, so don't be too surprised it Malfoy dies or anything." Ron whispered to Harry. Harry cracked up.  
  
"You flogged my job, idiot!" Harry tried to whisper, although that was pretty hard seeing as he was laughing his head off. "I was gonna swap them, remember? Oh well, I'll be responsible for the shit-stirring, if that's alright with y-"  
  
"Potter! Weasley! Shut those traps and pay attention!" Snape barked at them. Ron couldn't help but snigger and he and Harry continued to whisper to each other like silly school boys.  
  
When Snape had finished his low-down on how to make the particular potion, (Ron and Harry had no idea of what potion they were meant to be making, because they hadn't listened to a word) they got their ingredients set up and ready to go.  
  
"All right, Harry. Your turn." Ron told him. Harry grinned and leant back, pretending to yawn, and 'accidentally' swatting Malfoy in the face. Malfoy spun around, ready to kill.  
  
"If that was you, Potter-" He began.  
  
"Me?" Harry asked innocently. "What? I didn't do anything!"  
  
"Don't give me that bullshit, Potter. How dumbassed do you think I am?" Draco snarled. Harry chuckled.  
  
"Do you really want me to answer that, Malfoy?" Harry raised his eyebrows sarcastically. Harry knew he was shit-stirring, but it was really fun. He could see Crabbe out of the corner of his eye shovelling ingredients into the cauldron. Harry had to fight down a snigger. Any moment now....  
  
Malfoy's eyes widened in rage. "You'll pay for that one, dickhead!" He spat at Harry.  
  
"Whatever," Harry waved him off and pretended to go back to 'helping' Ron with the Potion. There wasn't even anything in their Cauldron, of course. It was completely empty. Harry glanced at Ron, who shrugged and gave him a blank, "What the hell?" look. Harry knew that he didn't know what do with their potion any more than he did. Snape suddenly loomed over them.  
  
"May I ask why you two have absolutely nothing in your cauldron?" He asked them coldly. Ron started to explain rather nervously.  
  
"Um, Me and Harry stuffed up the quantities of the bubotuber pus, so we had so start again." He managed to choke out. Snape raised one greasy eyebrow and peered into their couldron.  
  
"You must think I was born yesterday, Weasel. Don't think I haven't seen you standing here doing next to bloody nothing for twenty minutes. Don't you dare give me pathetic stories about not getting the quantities right, when you haven't even opened one of the bottles." Snape told them snidely, picking up one of their pristine, unopened bottles of bubotuber pus and holding it up as evidence. He dropped it down on the desk and strode past them to address the class. Oh, here we go, Harry thought to himself. A good old verbal bashing from Snape.  
  
"Right, now you should all be adding your powdered root of asphodel, unless of course, you are Potter and Weasley, who already know how to make this potion so they didn't bother -or so they say." Snape added coolly. He glanced over at Seamus and Dean's potion. "What the hell do you call that? Did you not hear me correctly? Am I right in assuming that I told the class that the potion must be of a thick consistancy ? Throw it out and start again, that's bloody revolting."  
  
Seamus didn't move. Snape sighed in annoyance and picked up his and Dean's cauldron and dropped it straight onto the floor. The blue contents went everywhere, and Snape smirked at Seamus and Dean, who were sitting there open-mouthed, too shocked to move.  
  
"Clean it up right now, you little ferrets." Snape told them coldly, "And don't even think of using those wands of yours. You can damn well scrub on your hands and knees." He swept off, leaving them to it.  
  
Harry, wide-eyed, turned to Ron.  
  
"Did I mention Snape was in a bad mood?" He asked Ron. They had forgotten all about Malfoys cauldron, when suddenly-  
  
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!  
  
"Holy Shit!" Malfoy shrieked. He was thrown back a few metres from the blast and was covered in frangipani-coloured acid. Harry took one look at him and burst out laughing. By now the acid was eating through his robes and staining his bum cheeks blue. Ron and Harry were on the floor in fits. Malfoy jumped up, shrieking.  
  
"Let me out! Open the fr!ck!n' door!" He screamed. Snape grabbed him by the collar and dumped a cauldron of water over his head. Draco stopped shrieking and gasped as the water ran down his face. He began to recover and was quick to blame everyone.  
  
"Crabbe! You dumbshit! What the hell are you trying to do to me?!" Draco bellowed at him. But Crabbe was in a worse state than Malfoy. The acid had eaten away most of his hair, and his head was quickly turning a brilliant shade of prussian blue.  
  
"Hospital Wing, you two!" Snape shouted through the hysterical laughter of the students in the room. He turned to Harry. "Congratulations, Potter. You've earnt yourself a little detention friday night. You'll be scrubbing the glassware and spare cauldrons with Miss Weasley." Snape told him curtly.  
  
Harry didn't even bother glaring at him. He knew it was coming sooner or later. It was no surprise at all that he'd just landed another detention. He was actually quite shocked that he'd lasted as long as he did. It wouldn't be too bad though, he was serving it with Ginny, so they may even have fun. They were good mates, he and Ginny. Good mates.  
****  
It was Dinner time, and Harry was in a good mood, despite the detention. He saw Ginny and headed towards her.  
  
"Seeya in detention friday night, Gin," He told her, giving her a grin. She glanced up at him and grinned back.  
  
"So I heard!" She asked him, trying hard not to start laughing. "I also heard that you lost 100 points for Gryffindor." She added.  
  
"Oh What? 100? Bloody Hell, that's a bit rich!"  
  
"Yeah well, you did just about blow up Malfoy and Crabbe, didn't you?" Ginny tried to hide her grin. Harry caught it, and grinned back.  
  
"I didn't actually blow them up, but they are a little blue. Ron must have grabbed a bottle or two of Fladriffe acid. You should've seen 'em, Gin! They were a mess! It was so funny, it was completely worth every point I lost! I wish you'd seen it, you would have laughed so hard!" Harry exclaimed. Ginny giggled.  
  
"I probably would have. It was about time someone put Malfoy in his place." Ginny told him.  
  
"I reckon I did a good job of it too!" Harry laughed. Several Gryffindor's walked past them and glared at Harry. Word really had spread quickly. Obviously, they weren't very happy about their 100 point loss for Gryffindor.  
  
"They'll get over it," Ginny smiled at him, and he winked back.  
  
"Hopefully." 


	5. Detentions

Draco and Crabbe were up in the hospital wing, and Draco of course, was making a big show of how hurt and in pain he was, even after Madame Pomfrey told him he could leave after his ointment had been applied. This, however, did not stop Draco from ordering everyone about.  
  
"Get me some more cold rags, Pomfrey and hurry up about it, my arse is burning here!"  
  
"You wait a minute Mr. Malfoy, you're not that bad!" Madame Pomfrey scolded him. "Its your friend here Mr. Crabbe that I'm worried about- he's lost some of the skin on his face and hands. And where his hair has gone... Lord knows."  
  
Draco rolled his eyes tapped his hand on his knee. What did he care that Crabbe lost his hair? He sniggered. He didn't care. Not one bit. "Pomfrey, I don't give a toss where his hair's gone," he told her pointedly. "Its his fault that I'm here in the first place. You should have seen him, cramming god-knows-what into the bloody couldron. It could have been anything! What the friggin' hell was he thinking?!"  
  
"Oh, it wasn't just anything, it was fladriffe acid, combined with Gollieboil's marrow. Highly toxic. Where in Merlin's name did you get those ingredients? Snape shouldn't be letting you use ingredients such as those, they're very dangerous! You are very lucky to escape with minor injuries, Mr Malfoy. Acids such as these can burn to the bone in a matter of minutes!"  
  
Madame Pomfrey told him. Malfoy scowled. If truth be told, he actually doubted that it was Crabbe's fault, but he had to blame someone, and Crabbe was the most likely idiot to do it. Potter had to be behind it all though, somehow. Him and that bloody redheaded loser friend of his, Weasley. They were a pair of shit-stirrers, if ever you saw 'em. Almosty as good as me, Draco thought to himself with a snigger. But not quite. At that moment Professor Snape swept in, had a quick chat to Madame Pomfrey and then spoke to Malfoy.  
  
"This little episode had better not keep you from your Quidditch, studies or any other important events. You made a fool of yourself in my class Malfoy. Hope you're proud of your childish display." His expression didn't change in the slightest. "You are aware that it was Potter's doing?"  
  
"Potter?" Malfoy spat disgustedly, "I thought so, that dickhead."  
  
"He will be quite happy to scrub couldrons for a couple of hours, since he seems to have such a fond likeness for them. He and Miss Weasley will be working very hard friday night."  
  
Malfoy could have kicked Snape's head in. "What, they'll be doing it together?? Nice one, Professor, they'll probably be trying to get it on in the store room the whole time. Wouldn't surprise me, that Weasley chick is a bit of a skank."  
  
Snape, slightly annoyed replied back.  
  
"Skank or not, she'll be working alongside Potter friday night, and it will be my responsibility to see that they do not get up to anything together. And may I ask why you care so much about Miss Weasley's lovelife?" Snape asked Malfoy coldly.  
  
"I don't care!" Malfoy defended, "I just don't have much respect for any chick who would go for someone as wanked-up as Potter." She is pretty hot, though, for a Weasley, Malfoy thought to himself.  
  
"Yes well, that's beyond me too, Malfoy," Snape replied sneeringly. "But student's sex lives have nothing to do with me, and, quite frankly, I don't particularly want to know about them either. Anyway, I have sent an owl to inform your Father of this incident. Think yourself lucky this time, it could have been worse." Then he added in a cool tone, "Get better and hurry up about it, Malfoy. If you dare let us lose against Gryffindor in Quidditch again, there'll be hell to pay for you."  
  
As Snape left, Draco screwed up his face. Wanka. He could go out there and try to beat that bloody Potter then. No one else seemed to be able to, bugger him.  
  
*****  
  
And so friday afternoon came around. Harry and Ginny knew that they would be spending at least four hours-maybe more, cleaning up couldrons and washing glassware. Snape would be present throughout the entire time. This meant that they couldn't slack off or, quite frankly, have any fun at all.  
  
Ron was glad that he had not been caught afterall. But he was sorry for Harry and Ginny's sake. Detention was never fun, but with Snape, it was hell. He certainly didn't envy them for it.  
  
Harry had recieved a letter from Draco that afternoon. It was a single piece of green parchment written in silver ink. Ron had counted the swear words contained in it. Nine "F" words, three "dipshits", and two "wankas". Harry wasn't bothered by this. He and Ron both knew that blowing up Malfoy was worth everything they copped. Harry actually found the letter amusing- to think that they had made Draco so angry!  
  
Lessons had finished for the day and the four of them were eating dinner together. Cho joined them during dessert, she had been gloating the whole day and during dinner that it was her boyfriend that had blown up Draco Malfoy!  
  
Harry was loved by at least half the school. The other half were just a little pissed off with him. The Slytherin house was in that half. After all, Harry has almost killed their Prefect. Malfoy wasn't liked by many people, but in Slytherin, he was a god. The toughest, smartest, handsomest, richest guy, and the one with the most power. A Wizard to be looked up to as a role model- but never to be crossed.  
  
The Gryffindors were in the same "hate Harry" half. 100 points was a lot to lose in one sitting and this now put them in third position for the House Cup. Ravenclaw were on the bottom, Hufflepuff had overtaken them during the week due to Susan Bones winning the Magical Me contest. Harry had not bothered to enter it then, but he thought that those points would have been handy right now. Slytherin, of course, were on top.  
  
****  
  
Ginny was just finishing up the last of her toffeeberry pudding when Ron reminded her of the detention. Just 10 minutes to go. Harry was over at the Ravenclaw table eating with Cho. Well, "eating" was a bit of a joke. They were sitting with their arms wrapped around each other, kissing, she noticed with a jolt of jealously. Ginny didn't particularly want to try to get his attention while he was pashing his girlfriend, so she decided to leave without him. As she got up and walked to the exit, Harry caught up with her. "Thought you'd get away with serving your detention without me did ya?!" He looked a little out of breath, and Ginny knew why. His exertions at the Dinner table had left him quite exhausted.  
  
"Get lost Harry, YOU were the one not showing up!" She was about to add a biting remark about the Dinner table but decided not to look like a jealous cow in front of Harry. Instead, she added, "And to think, I may have had to spend the night alone with Snape!" She couldn't help but smile a little. Harry scoffed.  
  
"Spend the night alone with Snape? Not likely! Someone has to protect you from that loser!"  
  
"I'm glad." Ginny assured him honestly. "God knows how long we're going to be in there with him for"  
  
"Probably until the sun comes up tomorrow- and I'm not joking!" He laughed, seeing her expression. "I would know, this certainly isn't the first time I've had a detention with Snape. Actually I've had about 500." Harry seemed quite pleased with himself and Ginny laughed at the self-satisfied look on his face. They began to walk together in the direction of the dungeons.  
  
"Suppose this is all pretty new to you, Gin? You haven't ever had a detention before, have you?" Harry asked her as they walked. She looked up at him in surprise.  
  
"This isn't my first detention, Harry! You've got to be kidding me! Trelawney gave me stacks of them before this one, because of a few laughs at her pitiful predictions. She's labelled me an "Ignornat little Upstart." And that's true, in her class anyway." Ginny finished smugly. Harry stared at her. Innocent, perfect little Ginny Weasley had recieved a detention before this! No, not just one, a lot of them by the sound of it! He started to laugh, imagining Ginny playing up in Divination. Well, she did have a temper, and her own opinion, to say the least!  
  
"What are you smirking about, Harry Potter?" Ginny giggled, "I'm not making it up!"  
  
"I know, I'm just picturing you being a little smart-arse and sniggering at Trelawney! I never thought you had it in you, Gin."  
  
"Well, you can't tell me you've never gotten one from her! I bet you have! Heaps, right?!" Ginny laughed.  
  
"Me?!" Harry cried innocently. "Never! Well, maybe one or two a long time ago, but-"  
  
"When you two are quite finished" Snape snapped, cutting Harry short. They hadn't realised it because of all the laughing, but he and Ginny had already reached Snape's classroom. Ginny rolled her eyes and flounced past the Professor into the classroom.  
  
"What do we have to clean first, Professor?" She asked him, raising her eyebrows a little mockingly. Snape caught her sarcasm.  
  
"I'll have none of your cheek, Miss Weasley. You and Potter are both wasting my time. You can both start on the glassware..." he stopped and looked at them both before smugly adding, "And no wands."  
  
"What!!?" Ginny almost shrieked, "No Wands!! We'll be here until next Christmas!"  
  
"Mmmmmm, yes." Snape smiled nastily at both Ginny and Harry. Ginny, face white with indignation and anger, ripped her wand out of her pocket and practically threw it at Snape's outstretched hand. She stormed over to the table of dirty glassware, picking up a bottle and slamming a scourer into it. Harry absent-mindedly handed Snape his wand and went to work beside the livid Ginny. Snape, satisfied, glided over to his desk to mark some tests and proceded to fail the 1st graders.  
  
"Bastard." Ginny hissed, "How dare he?! We'll be here forever! Look at all this crap we have to clean! And with no wands!" She thumped her now clean bottle down hard on the table, almost shattering it. Harry stifled a laugh.  
  
"It was inevitbale, Gin. I knew he'd do it. He usually makes me clean up as much dirty crap as possible in my detentions, with no wand. He was bound to do the same thing this time." He picked up a test tube and began to scrub. "Snape just wants to see us suffer." Harry concluded. He watched as Ginny turned, glaring, to watch Snape as he got up from his desk and went into his store-room for supplies.  
  
"I hate him," she stated passionately, not bothering to lower her voice, as Snape was out of the room. Harry nodded. "That sure as hell makes two of us." He grinned at her. Ginny smirked and picked up another glass bottle. It was stained black and looked as if the discolouring could never be scrubbed out. Harry glanced at her. She was staring at the bottle despairingly.  
  
"Here, Gin," Harry told her, taking the bottle from her. "I'll do that one. I've had more experience in the art of cleaning shit-stained potion bottles." Ginny burst out laughing, quickly smothering it as she glanced at the door of the store-room.  
  
"Hey, um, what are you going as to the Halloween Ball, Gin?" Harry tried to change the subject, struggling to keep from laughing. "Isn't it meant to be fancy dress or something?"  
  
Ginny, wiping her tears of mirth out of her eyes, nodded. " Yep, fancy dress. And I'm going as the Lady of Shallot. She's one of the Camelot legends, what with Lancelot and all." Harry nodded, thinking.  
  
"Yeah, I think I know who you mean. She died, right? Because of some curse? Harry asked her.  
  
"Yep, that's her. She had a curse placed upon her and wasn't allowed to look out the window into the outside world. But she did, to see Lancelot riding by, and so she died." Harry screwed up his nose.  
  
"That's crap. She was meant to be beautiful too, hey?" Ginny nodded in answer. "Well then, she suits you perfectly, Gin" Harry stated. Ginny stopped her scrubbing abrupty. Had he just called her beautiful? She frowned. No, he couldn't have. She shook her head slightly.  
  
"What is it Gin?" Harry asked her. "You look troubled." Bugger. Ginny thought to herself. What do I say now? The truth?  
  
"Um, did you just say you think I'm beautiful, Harry?" There! She'd said it! Now what?  
  
Harry's eyes flew open at the question, and he gazed at her.  
  
"Yes. I do think you're beautiful, Gin. Because you are," he told her tenderly. Gently, he reached out and brushed a loose strand of soft red hair out of her eyes, brushing her cheek. Ginny savoured the feel of his hand against her skin, then it slid down to her lips. She closed her eyes, praying he wouldn't remove his fingers. But he did remove them.  
  
And replace them with his lips.  
  
Ginny gasped in shock, her eyes flying open. Harry was holding tight to her, his hot lips kissing hers passionately, desperately. Ginny quickly got over the surprise and closed her eyes and kissed him back just as passionately. She wrapped her arms around his neck and Harry crushed her possesively to his strong chest. She moaned in heated passion and he answered her with a groan of denied longing.  
  
Suddenly (and much too soon for Ginny), Harry wrenched his lips away with a strangled cry of protest, and Ginny gave a small murmer of disappointment. Harry stared at her in shock. Slowly, he reached up and touched his lips, which were swollen slightly from their kissing. He glanced back at her, his eyes holding an expression of pain.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Gin." He told her gently. "I-I, uh, I don't know what came over me. Please Gin, it meant nothing. No, I don't mean it like that, it's just, uh." Harry squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get his mind to work properly again. "It's just that, I didn't mean to do that. Gin, you're one of my best friends. But just a friend. And-and I have a girlfriend. Cho, I love Cho, and....."  
  
"Harry, just shut up." Ginny snapped at him, hurt beyond words. She turned away from him so he wouldn't see her tears. It meant nothing to him? He had just kissed her passionately and it meant NOTHING to him? She choked on a sob and tried to pretend it was a cough. All Ginny's dreams had come true and then been lost again in an instant. A silent tear escaped her eyes and ran slowly down her cheek. She swallowed hard and turned back to her cleaning.  
  
Harry's mind was in turmoil. He hadn't meant to hurt her so badly. He hadn't meant to tell her the kiss meant nothing to him. It did! It meant a lot to him, and that was what scared him the most. He shouldn't be kissing Ginny Weasley and enjoying it. Enjoying was a gently word, he had been about to throw her on the table and-NO! He wouldn't think of that. He had Cho, and he loved Cho. There was just something about the beautiful redhead that made his blood run hot. Oh, but now he'd stuffed it. She wouldn't even be his friend now, and he didn't blame her. He'd rejected her so cruelly, straight after a passionate kiss, without even meaning to. God, if anyone knew how to shit in their own nest, it was him. Well done, Harry Potter.  
  
****  
  
After four hours of cleaning, they were finally stopped by Snape. Ginny hadn't spoken a word to Harry since their kiss. Apart from a few accidental moments of contact, she hadn't even looked at him. Harry felt like a complete bastard.  
  
"I hope you've learnt your lesson you two. Miss Weasley, don't you dare ever let me catch you throwing yourself at young wizards again. Especially not those as sad as Creevey." He finished nastily. But Ginny didn't take the bait. She was far too emotionally and physically drained to care. Snape ignored her and turned on Harry,  
  
"And YOU, Potter. Don't you ever try a stupid prank like that again. Your ignorant, backward brain wouldn't even begin to comprehend just how dangerous those acids are." Harry nodded, not caring any more than Ginny did about what Snape said to him.  
  
"Can we just go now?" He asked tiredly. Ginny jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. Snape narrowed his eyes at them both, then waved his hand at them.  
  
"Very well. Here are your wands, get out of my sight now then, or I'll give you another date with your beloved cauldrons." He told them snidely.  
  
Ginny, without a word, left the room. She had a headache and was feeling like she'd hit a bus. She was crying inside and had been doing so ever since Harry had told her that their kiss meant nothing to him. She hurried ahead, so as not to let Harry catch up and finally reached Gryffindor Tower. The time was 12:30, and she was utterly exhausted. She flopped down on her bed in her Dormitory and cried herself to sleep. 


	6. Halloween Ball

Harry was rather confused after his detention with Ginny. He was supposed to be in love with Cho, yet why did he feel so strongly about his georgous redheaded friend? Ginny had completely ignored him the days following their detention, which had upset Harry. They had always been such good friends and he had blown it with one stupid mistake. He asked himself over and over why he did kiss her, but he found that he didn't even know himself.  
  
Harry spent the days following their detention alone. Ginny didn't want anything to do with him and Harry found that he missed her company more than anyone else's. But as much as he wanted to talk to her and explain his actions, he never did. He was too afraid that Cho would find out, or Ginny would reject him.  
  
Setting his troubled thoughts aside for a moment, Harry continued up to his dorm, it was late on sunday night, homework was due the next day, but it would have to wait. He climbed into bed and pulled his quilt up over his head. Ginny. He said her name out loud to himself in the darkness. What did he actually feel towards her?  
  
The next day Cho met him down in the Great hall (Cho had been away during the weekend due to family commitments) and reminded Harry of the Halloween ball- now just a week away. To Cho it was everything, although Harry could think of better things to do. He usually loved balls and parties, but his mind was wondering back to last friday night...That night.  
  
Cho was the chief organiser this year, and apparently everything was going to wonderful. Silver and burgundy streamers, 12 etremely large pumpkin chanderliers, multicoloured velvet runners, 26 extra leather couches, a new enchanted mirrorlit dance floor, plus every kind of trick or treat ever invented.  
  
Harry decided firmly to himself that he would kiss Cho when everyone left their table. It would be the first time he'd kiss his girlfriend since he had kissed Ginny. He wanted to kiss Cho not because he really wanted to, but to try to prove to himself that Cho was all he needed, and kissing her would also get his mind off Ginny. Well, it usually did.  
  
"So how was your weekend Cho?" Harry asked.  
  
"Alright. But I'm so glad I'm back here with you now, my family can be a pain in the arse at times." Cho answered. Harry thought that he had better not ask her anymore questions. He leaned over and gently kissed her. Cho responded by kissing him back.  
  
"I've missed you." She murmered to him.  
  
"Missed you too, babe," Harry told her, although he knew that was a lie. If the brutal truth be told, he had hardly realised Cho had been away until she'd gotten back this morning.  
  
****  
  
The days passed by quickly and they were fast approaching the Ball. Cho was very busy with preperations, and so she hardly had any time for Harry. Ginny avoided Harry like the plague and Ron and Hermione had no time for anyone but each other, so absorbed in each other's lips that they barely even came up for air the whole week leading up to the Ball.  
  
Then the morning of the Halloween Ball dawned. School was cancelled that day, which gave students time to complete their costumes and prepare for the big night. It was the Slytherins' turn to help set up the Great Hall this time. Last time it had been Gryffindor for the Yule Ball and Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry had been run off their feet all morning, moving- in various pieces of furniture and putting up thousands of streamers with their wands. But now they didn't have to worry, and Harry even got a little pleasure from watching Crabbe and Goyle fail miserably while trying to perform simple "Wingardium Leviosa" spells. The two dumbass's even managed to set alight one of the fifty-foot long silver streamers with their faulty wands.  
  
Harry didn't see any of his friends until the evening. All of a sudden everyone burst into Gryffindor Tower, chatting and squealing in excitement. Hermione came in through the Portrait Hole with Ron. She was carrying a long package wrapped in moroon velvet.  
  
"This is for you, Harry. It's your costume from Cho. You'll like it, it's really great," She told him excitedly. She handed Harry the package and hurried off with Ron. Harry was about to open it when he saw Ginny walk into the Common Room. She was talking with Dean Thomas, her date for the Ball. Something sparked inside Harry, and he realised then that he didn't like that bloody Dean Thomas. He narrowed his eyes at him and watched the couple stroll past him without a glance in his direction.  
  
Harry noticed that Ginny was making a big show of looking everywhere in the Common Room but where he was seated. He grinned to himself. Well, at least she knows I'm alive, he thought to himself. Then he remembered the costume and walked up the steps to the boys dorm. Once in, he was greeted by a racket of bellowing, excited boys changing hurriedly into their costumes and telling each other how much hotter their date was to everyone elses.  
  
Harry went to his bed and unwrapped his costume. He put it on. Cho had done a great job of it. The costume was of Sir Lancelot, and it was as authentic as if it had been taken from a book. Soft deerskin under-tunic was covered by a tunic of long-sleeved chain-mail. Over that was a white, red and blue sleeveless tunic. This was belted at the waist by a large leather belt bearing the symbol of Camelot. Soft leather gloves met the chain mail at his wrists and he wore rather tight swede breaches with his knee-high leather Pegasus boots. All this was topped off rather impressively with an authentic sword which he strapped to his belt. He knew he looked good, and the other boys glared at him in jealousy.  
  
He was just strolling out the door, feeling a heck of a good deal better when a sudden thought struck him suddenly. Who was it who was Lancelot's lover again? Guinevere, wasn't it? Oh, thank God. But.......wasn't Elaine in love with him too? Elaine......The Lady of Shalott......Ginny.  
  
Shit.  
  
****  
  
"Harry! You look gorgeous!" Cho bounded up to him after waiting for him at the stairs. "I knew that you'd look incredible in Lancelot's costume! You look positively sexy!" She grinned at him. Cho was dressed as an Empress. She wore the authentic Chinese Princess outfit, with red embroidered silk and her hair up in complicated twists. Harry gave her an appreciative look.  
  
"You don't look bad yourself, Cho." Harry told her. She smiled at him and took his arm, leading him down to the Great Hall.  
  
"I don't know what everyone will think of the decorations and the food, but I hope they like them. Oh, I'm SO nervous Harry! What if everything goes wrong!?" Cho sounded a little shaky, but he reassured her that it would be the best Ball ever.  
  
Even as they entered the beautifully decorated Hall, nothing could have prepared Harry for what he was about to see. He was amazed! He had not been down in the Great Hall since that morning. All of the Pumpkin chanderliers were up, and glittering streamers were hanging from each, some reached the ground, others seemed to be hanging from the invisable ceiling. Huge balloons were set against the walls which changed colour gradually. The moroon and silver streamers were draped all over the walls and tables (which were laden with huge plates of steaming hot food) and there was a huge dancefloor in the middle of the room for the dancers.  
  
"Cho, you've done a fantastic job! I don't know what you were worried about, this is awsome!" Harry exclaimed to her. She smiled at him and he placed an arm around her waist and led her to the rest couches. They sat down and snuggled up together. They watched the Fancy-dressed people pour through the doors and picked out the best ones together. Malfoy came strolling smoothly in with Parvati Patil on his arm. Parvati was dressed as a Harem Girl. Colourful beads and jewellery hung from various parts around her over exposed, slightly silk-clad body. Malfoy was dressed all in black, (nothing unusual) with a hood shadowing his face and he walked past them, giving Harry a glare and Cho a smirk. Cho thought that he looked rather sexy in his alluring Dementor costume, and so Harry paid her back by telling her that Parvati Patil looked pretty hot in her Middle-Eastern costume. She whacked him on the head with a trick-or-treat wand and red stars came shooting out.  
  
"Watch it, Cho! You almost blew my head off! And besides, I was joking! I'm not looking at anyone but you tonight." He leant over and gave her a quick kiss. Suddenly, his eyes were drawn away from his girlfriend by a flash of white and red. It was Ginny.  
  
He had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. She was dressed in a flowing, pure white dress, the bell sleeves almost reaching the ground. She wore a woven gold belt around her hips and the white skirt of her robe swayed about her. The bodice of the dress was modest, and yet revealing at the same time, for it hung just below her shoulders. The silky fabric almost molded onto the contours of her body. Her hair was at its most glorious. It was long and rich red, and falling to her waist in lucious curls around her shoulders and down her back. Encircling her head she wore a single thin gold band, almost like a crown. Or was it a halo? Harry wasn't sure which suited her better. Harry knew that she was a perfect Elaine. The most beautiful Lady of Shalott, and he was her Lancelot.  
  
Harry shook himself, cursing his mind of it's inability to stay focused on Cho. He knew he should not be thinking like this. He tore his eyes away from the gorgeous figure of Ginny and turned back to his girlfriend. She was chatting away to one of her 7th Grade friends. Hermione and Ron joined them soon after. Hermione appeared to be Cleopatra and Ron, Marc Antony, A perfect couple!  
  
Just then, Lucius swept in, and a hush settled on every person gathered in the Great Hall. Harry turned back to the entrance, (glad to see that Ginny had left it) and watched the eldest Malfoy. He, like his son, was dressed in black. But he was certainly not in costume. It was what he always wore, along with his heavy black cloak. Like usual, he had his snake head cane in his right hand, and was wearing a disgusted expression. Lucius Malfoy strode through the crowd and sat himself down at the head of the Great Hall next to the other teachers.  
  
Harry shrugged and turned back to Cho just as a tune struck up and couples began to walk out onto the dance floor.  
  
"May I have this dance, Mi'lady?" Harry asked her formerly. She grinned and gave him her hand. They headed onto the Dancefloor and began to move to the fast beat of the music.  
  
****  
  
Ginny glared at Harry as he danced with that stupid girlfriend of his. Dean had already asked her to dance, but she had declined.  
  
Suddenly, the back of her neck prickled. She whipped around in her seat and caught Draco staring at her. Her eyes widened in shock. What the hell? Draco didn't tear his gaze away from her even as she shot him a challenging look back. Ginny began to get uncomfortable under his thorough scrutiny and wriggled in her seat. Those smouldering eyes of Draco's.........  
  
The song changed and became slower and more romantic. She turned her head away from Harry and Cho as they began to kiss slowly. She remembered the feeling of those hot lips on hers during detention and licked her own lips absent-mindedly. But then she remembered Harrys' reaction to it, and she closed her eyes in pain. His rejection was hurtful enough that it should have turned her away from him. It had, for a while. But she still loved him, and there was nothing she could do about it.  
  
She glanced over at Malfoy. He was lounging lazily on the couch with Parvati on his lap. His hands were placed on her backside, and she was giggling like crazy. But his eyes weren't on Parvati. They were on her. Ginny glanced away and got up to grab some refreshments. Harry looked her way as she moved to the drinks table and she couldn't quite work out if the desire in his eyes was for his girlfriend or her. What is with males tonight? Ginny asked herself in annoyance. She couldn't help but feel a small tingle of delight at Harry's look, however, and she couldn't help but notice just how damned sexy he looked in his Lancelot outfit.  
  
Harry, still watching Ginny, kissed Cho. Ginny narrowed her eyes. What was he playing at? Ginny sighed in exasperation. Bloody Harry. What was he trying to tell her? Or rather, show her?? Whatever it was, it was really pissing her off.  
  
Ginny firmly refused Dean aother dance, and got up from her seat, her temper rising. She did NOT like being played with. Giving Harry one last murderous glare, she turned on her heel and left the Hall.  
  
Harry's eyes followed her out. 


	7. A Love Confessed

Harry watched as Ginny stormed from the Great Hall. He frowned to himself. What was up with her? What in God's name had he done to deserve that look?? She looked like she was ready to kill someone. Sure, he may have glanced at her once or twice, but that was simply a normal male reaction to a beautiful woman. She HAD looked completely beautiful, and Harry knew he had not been the only one staring at her. Draco Malfoy had been full on checking her out, which had somehow made Harry want to walk over and punch that appreciative smirk off his face.  
  
Cho frowned up at him. "Harry? What's wrong?" She asked worriedly. Harry glanced down at her. He was quite surprised to notice that she was really very plain in comparison to the lovely flame-haired Ginny. "Harry?" Cho asked again. Harry started from his thoughts.  
  
"What? No, nothing's wrong. Why do you ask?" He asked. Had Cho noticed him perving on Ginny? Cho narrowed her eyes.  
  
"Well, maybe because you stopped dancing and kissing me to watch Ginny Weasley stomp out of the Great Hall. And, quite frankly, I want to know 'why' when my boyfriend checks out another girl." Cho had let go of Harry's shoulders now and stood away from him with her hands on her hips and an angry look on her face. Harry had to think of something quick to cover up for himself.  
  
"Checking her out?! As if I was," He argued half-heartedly. "But, uh, I want to go talk to her anyway. There's something that needs clearing up and, well...Cho!" Harry gave an exasperated sigh seeing the look on Cho's face,"Don't look at me like that! I just need to talk to her."  
  
"Talk to her, my ass." Cho replied bitingly.  
  
"Cho, YOU'RE my girl, ok? I wouldn't cheat on you." Harry squeezed her hand and left the Great Hall, leaving Cho standing in the middle of the dancefloor alone.  
  
Harry caught up with Ginny as she was storming into the Common Room. She slammed the portrait door shut in Harry's face, and almost taking Harry out with it. Annoyed now, he yelled the password to the Fat Lady and crashed into the Common Room.  
  
"What the hell was all that about?" He demanded. Ginny stopped walking and Harry saw her muscles tense beneath the pure white fabric of her dress. She turned to face him, an angry, maybe even hurt look on her face.  
  
"What do you care?" She shot back at him. Harry narrowed his eyes at her.  
  
"I care a damned lot thankyou very much. When someone gives me the death glare, I would like to know why!" Harry argued.  
  
"Go back to Cho, Harry." She told him firmly. Harry planted his feet on the carpet in front of her in defiance.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere until I get this out of you." He folded his arms stubbornly. "Tell me, Ginny." She glared at him.  
  
"Why shouldn't I give you the "death glare" as you put it?? Talk about playing with emotions. Where do you get off, Potter?" Ginny yelled at him.  
  
"'Playing with emotions?' Bulltshit I was playing with emotions! Why would I do that when I have Cho?" Harry cried.  
  
"You tell me!" Ginny cried back. "But I don't appreciate being toyed with, thankyou very much. You just kissed me a week ago, and now you're acting as if nothing ever happened. And then you go pashing your girfriend straight in front of me!" She snapped.  
  
"Hey, come off it, Gin!" Harry cried back. "Cho IS my girlfriend. I think I have a right to kiss her!" He defended. Ginny rolled her eyes. The common room was completely empty. Everyone else was at the Ball.  
  
"Harry, that's pathetic. You know full well that you were kissing her right in front of me on purpose. Trying to make me jealous, are you? Well, what I want to know is why? Why do you care to play games with me? You told me yourself that I meant nothing to you."  
  
"Oh hang on a minute!" Harry cried. But to himself, he thought that maybe he had been a bit of a shit. He knew he hadn't been fair to Ginny, but right now he was too worked up to care. "I haven't been playing with anybody." He told her stubbornly. Ginny stared at him, eyes wide in amazement at what he'd just said. Then she laughed a short, humourless laugh and shook her head in disbelief, turning her back on him to walk to the Girls' dorm stairs.  
  
"I don't believe you, Harry Potter. I really don't. Who the hell do you think you are?" She snarled, turning at the start of the stairs. "I don't know why I ever bothered with you! I might as well go and find Draco. I noticed you weren't the only one looking my way this evening." Ginny raised her eyesbrows challengingly, waiting for his reaction.  
  
"Malfoy!?" Harry almost shrieked at her. Ginny smirked in satisfaction, glad she had gotten a jealous reaction from him. "How could you even say that! God, and to think that I never knew that there was such a bitchy, skanky little Ginny behind all that fake sweetness!" He charged up to her, yelling his head off.  
  
Ginny stumbled a bit on the stairs and turned to face him, her face livid with rage. "Get stuffed, you bastard!" She screamed at him, hurt mingled with rage. "Yeah well, I can't believe that before this night, I never saw that there was such a cruel, selfish, heartless prick hidden beneath all that famous, brave, Harry Potter charm!" She hurled at him.  
  
Harry almost reeled from that one as if she'd physically hit him. He recovered, hurt as well, yelling "God, I don't believe you! You're just a jealous little cow because Cho has me and you don't!" He cried, trying to get a bit of his pride back.  
  
Ginny stared at him incredulously, then rolled her eyes and stormed up the rest of the steps. "Right you are, Harry! EVERYONE wants you, because you're so totally the hottest, sexiest wizard ever!" She snarled sarcastically. "Ha! Yeah right. You're just pissed because you've finally realised what a jewel you've missed out on because you've been such a blind, heartless dickhead!" Ginny cried at the top of her lungs, then spun around through her dormitory door and slammed it in Harry's shocked face.  
  
Growling in dangerous, fiery rage, Harry bashed open the door to Ginny's dorm.  
  
Ginny winced as the door crashed open behind her. She steeled herself for another rally of insult-trading and whirled to face him, when she was suddenly snatched up into his arms, his hot mouth seeking hers in a ravishing kiss that held all the passion, love and rage they felt for each other.  
  
There was nothing Ginny could do. Even if Harry had had some reasoning left in him, she wouldn't have stopped him. She wanted this as much as he did. She hadn't meant most of the things she had said to him, and she certainly DID still love him. Ginny knew full well that she wouldn't have stopped his fierce kisses and carresses even if Ron had walked in on them right then and there. She just prayed he wouldn't stop.  
  
Before she knew what was happening, Harry had picked her up in his arms and carried her to her bed. How he knew which one was hers, Ginny didn't know. Harry laid her down on it gently and took her mouth with his again. His fingers fumbled with the clasps on the back of her dress and his mouth traced fiery kisses down her throat.  
  
Harry was in a whirlwind of emotions. Love, lust, rage and passion were swirling inside him, putting a stop to all rational thought. Cho barely came to his mind at all. Quite simply, he didn't care about her right now, and he knew he had never felt this way with her. Not ever, and they had kissed hundreds of times. He knew he loved Ginny. Quite likely, he always had. But it had taken Ginny's angry, hurt abuse for him to finally realise it. Now, he wanted her completely, and he knew she wanted him.  
  
Ginny reached up and threaded her fingers through his rakish hair. She sighed with pleasure as she felt his hands slide down her now bare back. Reaching up, Ginny tugged off Harry's knights' chain mail and the soft leather under-tunic. She slid her fingers down his bare, slightly tanned and muscled chest and she heard Harry gasp in pleasure, before he pushed her back onto the bed beneath him. All Harry wore now was a pair of VERY tight suede breaches and his Pegasus boots. His fingers made quick work of the rest of her dress, and before she knew it, her white costume was on the stone floor.  
  
Harry tugged his boots off and gazed down at Ginny with feverish, glazed eyes. She wore only a white bra and underpants now. He leaned down, brushing his lips along her jawline and down her throat to the valley between her breasts. She arched her back with pleasure, and Harry took that opportunity to unclasp her bra. He felt her stiffen beneath him and he looked down to see her eyes wide with fear. She wriggled against him, trying to get free of him, unintentionally moving against Harry's already hardened crotch. He groaned and leaned down, capturing her mouth again with his in a fiery kiss. Ginny gave a small distressed murmer of protest when he flung her bra to the floor, but she soon forgot that as his lips trailed down her collar bone and then lower. Desire engulfed her as his lips rained hot kisses on her breasts and before she knew it, her underpants had joined her bra on the floor.  
  
Harry shrugged himself out of his suddenly painfully tight breaches and underpants. They were both now completely naked in each others arms, Harry's lips on fire as they scorched Ginny's mouth, throat, breasts. Somehow, although he had never had sex before, Harry knew instinctively what to do. Gently, he pried Ginny's legs apart and moved between them, hovering just above her, kissing the side of her neck.  
  
Ginny's eyes opened wide in fear as she felt Harry between her legs. No words were needed, however, as he smiled reassuring at her and kissed her passionately. Slowly, he pushed himself inside her. She stiffened at the strange invasion, but he kept moving until he found her blockage. His lips lowered on hers again as he mercifully plunged into her. She cried out against his mouth as the pain wracked her body, but as soon as it had come, it was gone, and excitement replaced the agony. Her hips began to move rhythmically with his, and she arched up to meet each of his thrusts.  
  
Quickly, their passions built. Frenziedly, Ginny moved herself up against him into his lap, so they were sitting breast to breast, and dug her fingernails into his strong shoulders. She felt Harry tense beneath her and heard each of his moans and felt his panting gasps on her cheek, matching her own. Wave after wave of pleasure washed over her and she groaned, her mind reeling in ecstasy.  
  
Harry moaned and ran his lips over hers, down her throat and breasts. His breathing came in short pants as their love-making got more and more out of control. He held tight to her waist and moved within her, crying out in agonised rapture. Ginny gripped his shoulders, her eyes tight shut, her breathing laboured. Then suddenly, it hit them. A tidal wave of ecstasy took them both and they cried out, holding tight to one another, their bodies slick with sweat. They went over the edge into paradise together, their lips and bodies sealed in rapture.  
  
Then it was over. They lay afterwards on Ginny's bed, panting and gasping for breath in each others arms. Ginny began to doze quietly on Harry's shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head in loving possession of her. She snuggled closer and whispered softly to him.  
  
"I love you, Harry."  
  
He knew it was true, and, because it was also true, he confessed back to her.  
  
"And I love you, Ginny. You and No Other" 


	8. A Bitter End and a New beginning

Ginny awoke the next morning smiling. Harry loved her! And she loved him, too. They had consummated their love last night in fiery passion, making it the most incredible, special night of Ginny's life. The specialness of it, however, lost it's shine a little as she got up out of bed and hobbled to her gown. It hurt a little, she had to admit, just like every other girl had said after they had lost their virginity. Her mind raced back to the night before. After Harry had left, Ginny had gotten up from the bed to get a glass of water, and had seen the blood on her thighs, and the stains on the bed sheets. Grimly, Ginny had tugged the sheets off and taken them to the Gryffindor Laundry, where she had washed them immediately. She had to admit that it was rather embarrassing, and she felt a little awkward about seeing Harry the next day, too. But she also felt excited. He loved her, and she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.  
  
Carefully, after placing her cream silk night-gown on, Ginny made her way to the Boy's Dorm. It was still very early, so the boys shouldn't be up yet. Quidditch was today, but not for another 3 or so hours. She was freezing cold by the time she got to the door of Harry's dormitory, and she couldn't wait for his warmth.  
  
Harry lay awake, his hands behind his head, staring up at the stone ceiling with wide green eyes. He looked delighted to see Ginny, and welcomed her into his bed. She snuggled up to him, revelling in the warmth of his strong body. Harry wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.  
  
"How do you feel this morning, Gin?" He asked gently. Ginny reached up and kissed his lips softly.  
  
"Alright, I guess. It hurts a bit to walk, but nothing unusual." Harry nodded grimly.  
  
"I heard that the first time always hurts afterwards for girls. Did I hurt you too badly last night?" He asked worriedly. Ginny smiled and shook her head.  
  
"Harry, you know I loved it last night. It was only the slightest bit of pain, and that was quickly replaced with-" She grinned mischeviously,"-you know."  
  
Harry couldn't hide his huge smile, "I know. It was incredible." He closed his eyes, thinking about it, but decided that wasn't a good idea when suddenly the sheets bacame a little too warm for comfort.  
  
"Anyway!" Harry tried to get his mind off their mind-blowing sex the night before. "Quidditch today!" He exclaimed, a little too loudly.  
  
"Ssshh!" Ginny whispered fervently, "We'll get caught!"  
  
"Oh, sorry." Harry mumbled.  
  
"But yes, Quidditch is today. Are you nervous, Harry?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Nope. I've forgotten how to be nervous for Quidditch. I've done it too many times." Harry whispered.  
  
"I'm nervous." Ginny muttered. "What if I stuff up?"  
  
"You wont," Harry told her decidedly. "You never do." Ginny couldn't help but smile.  
  
"Thanks, Harry." She reached up and ran her finger along his jaw line, his slight stubble coarse against the tip of her forefinger. He tried to pull her close to kiss her, but she pushed away fom him.  
  
"I have to go. Ron and the other'll be awake in a minute, and we'd get in so much trouble if I were caught here. Seeya at breakfast, gorgeous!" She leant over and kissed his lips, then turned and dashed out of the room.  
  
****  
  
Harry lay back in bed. Ginny. He said her name out loud to himself in the half-darkness of the room. Ginny. She was his. Finally, she was his. He knew he had wanted it that way for years, but he simply hadn't been able to admit that to himself. Until last night. Last night......  
  
He shook himself, fiercly telling himself not to think about that, or he'd get himself worked up again. He hadn't even imagined that making love would be that incredible, though. He'd never even really wanted to do it before now, not even with Ch-  
  
Cho!  
  
"Holy shit," Harry groaned to himself. Cho! His girlfriend! Harry had completely forgotten about her. Being with Ginny allowed no thought for anyone else. Cho had no idea what had happened last night. He had even told her in the middle of the dancefloor that he'd never cheat on her. Never cheat on her? Harry actually laughed to himself, despite the predicament he'd gotten himself into. Never cheat on her? That was a joke! It was a bit more than just cheating! He'd gone further with Ginny in one night than he'd ever been in all his dating life with Cho. But Cho had a right to know. Harry had to tell her the truth. It was the least she deserved, after the way he'd treated her last night. After an hour of worrying, Harry had decided on what to do.  
  
****  
  
At 8:00, everyone arrived at the Great Hall for Breakfast. It was literally buzzing with hundreds of excited voices chatting about Today's Quidditch Match-Gryffindor vs Slytherin. Harry had been the first to arrive, having been churned up ever since Ginny left his bed that morning about what he was going to tell Cho. When she breezed in through the doorway, Harry was almost relieved.  
  
"We have to talk." He told her shortly, and got up and left Gryffindor Table. Cho followed him, frowning. When they reached the Entrance Hall, Cho stopped walking and snapped at him.  
  
"Harry, what is going on? You were so rude last night, when you left me to dance with Dean Thomas the whole night! It was going to be a great Ball, and you left me just after the it started! What's going on?" She cried.  
  
"Look Cho, I'm really sorry about abandoning you like that. I just had to talk to Ginny. We had to sort something out." He finished lamely.  
  
"Well, what was it then? You were gone for the whole night. It must have been pretty damn important for you to neglect your own girlfriend for it." Cho's voice quavered.  
  
"Can we talk about this somewhere else, Cho? Everyone'll hear us here." Harry asked her. She glared at him.  
  
"It's Ginny, isn't it?" She stated. Harry glanced quickly at her.  
  
"What about her?"  
  
"You tell me, you're the one following her around." She snapped.  
  
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Well... she's in love with me, Cho. I had only suspected it before, but after last night, well...."  
  
"What about last night?!" Cho almost shrieked. She was beginning to sound flustered. Harry looked at her. She looked scared, but Harry knew he couldn't keep lying. He finally dropped the act.  
  
"Well, Cho. I can truthfully tell you I love her back." There! He'd said it!  
  
Cho looked as if she'd been punched in the face. "You WHAT?!" She yelled. "Ginny Weasley?? Oh, I get it now!" She screeched hysterically. "You two were sleeping together last night, weren't you?! That's why you didn't come back, right!?"  
  
"Sleeping with Ginny?" Harry asked nervously. Hell yes! "Um, no. Whatever gave you that idea?"  
  
"Yeah right you weren't sleeping together." Cho spat. Hurt and pain, however, was quickly taking the place of her anger. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "Well, Harry. You say you love her. Where does that leave me?" Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Are you breaking up with me, Harry?"  
  
Harry felt like a bloody monster. He stared at Cho. Was this really the end for them? He knew he had loved her. But, what did he feel for her now? He couldn't make sense of anything. Then he remembered Ginny. And he knew what he had to do.  
  
"Cho," Harry stammered, "I have loved every minute with you. I really have. But I can't keep lying to you or myself anymore. Our time is over, Cho. I'm not in love with you any more, although I know that I was once. I love Ginny, Cho. Her and No Other. I hadn't realised it before, but now I know. She means everything to me, and I don't mean to hurt you, but I have to tell you the truth."  
  
Cho stared at him, not moving. She was breathing hard, but her eyes were dry. She shook her head. "I had suspected as much." She said faintly. "I knew there was something between you two, especially after you both got those Orbits." Cho lowered her head and breathed in deeply. She glanced back up at him, and Harry could see that her composure was cracking. Her eyes, although wide open, were glazed with tears now.  
  
"That's it then? Just like that, all we had is gone?" Her voice wavered, but she didn't look away. Harry, although relieved to have told her the truth, felt awful. He nodded slowly.  
  
"Yes Cho. It's over. I'm sorry" He told her gently. She breathed in a shaky breath and nodded in acceptance. A tear rolled down her face. Reaching out, Harry touched her arm, trying to lessen some of her grief. Cho pulled away from him.  
  
"Just leave me alone, Harry," She sobbed, turning her back to him and beginning to walk up to the Ravenclaw Turrets, her back bent in defeat. Harry watched her go, feeling utterly wretched.  
  
That was not easy, he thought to himself.  
  
****  
  
Harry returned to his Dorm half an hour before the Quidditch Match. He needed to change into his robes and clear his mind.  
  
Carefully, he unpacked all his leather Quidditch gear and his robes and laid it all out on his un-made bed. He had the dorm to himself-everyone else had left earlier for the Quidditch Pitch to ensure good seats. Harry checked the gloves for damage, the shoes and the foot-coverings, the moroon seekers robes. Everything seemed to be fine.  
  
Ginny.  
  
Harry shook his head to clear it of the redheaded female. She was always on his mind. His beautiful Ginny. She was so all-consumming that all other thought, including Cho and her grief, were fast leaving his mind. Harry gave a frustrated growl and shook his head, ruffling his hair. He reached down to undo his pants.  
  
Ginny.  
  
He ignored what his mind was telling him and took off the rest of his clothing, shirt, tie, robes and all. Now all he had on was his moroon Snitch boxers. Thoughts of the previous night flooded his mind. His breathing quickened and he leant down to put his hands on the bed, bracing himself, eyes tight shut, trying to get some air circulating around his over-heated body.  
  
Ginny.  
  
"Holy Shit," Harry groaned, and fell backwards onto his bed, gritting his teeth as his hormones began to run wild. There was no one around, and Wand Polishing was all very well, but having a certain redheaded Ginny to Polish it for him sounded a million times better.  
  
"Harry! What ARE you doing?"  
  
Shit! It was Ginny! Harry flung himself on his stomache to hide his arousal and looked up at her. It didn't help his horny state to see that her Quidditch robes were undone at the throat, and her hair was loose and curly and radient.  
  
"Nothing Gin," Harry tryed to sound casual, but his voice was husky with desire for her. "Just getting ready for Quidditch, that's all."  
  
Ginny didn't believe one word of it. "Oh, just 'getting ready for Quidditch,' are we?" Her eyebrows lifted sardonically and her lips lifted at the corners in a sly grin. "Just getting ready for Quidditch?" She leant over and ran her lips along his jawline. Harry gasped and tried to force a rational thought into his brain.  
  
"Uh, I broke up with Cho just before," He tried to tell her. Ginny stopped kissing him for a moment and turned to him, nodding in sympathy, but also gladness. She touched his lips with her own. It was all he needed. Cho left his mind again for about the millionth time, as he grabbed Ginny around the waist, pulling her down onto the bed and under him, and kissing her like there was no tomorrow.  
  
"Harry," Ginny whispered softly, gasping as his hands slid under her robes. Harry silenced her with a breath-taking kiss. She shook her head, trying to fend off his fierce kisses.  
  
"Harry!" She gasped.  
  
"...Yeah?" Harry answered finally, hardly taking any notice as his hands ran up her thighs. Ginny leant over and grabbed his Quidditch pants which were lying next to her on his bed.  
  
"Put these on." She instructed him, and pushed the pants at him.  
  
"What?" Harry asked, not comprehending, and not wanting to, as he pulled her Quidditch robes down to her shoulders..  
  
"Harry!" Ginny snapped. "You bloody idiot! It's Quidditch in a few minutes! We acn't do anything now! Get your pants on and hurry up about it!" Ginny shrugged her robes up and pushed him off her. Harry, in a state of unsatisfied arousal and confusion, stared at her.  
  
"Quidditch?" He asked her stupidly, his mind still clouded with desire. Ginny nodded in exasperation, deftly tying up her robes and straightening her hair.  
  
"Oh yeah, shit!" Harry yelled, finally comprehending. He grabbed his pants and stuffed them on, throwing his gloves and shoes on and making a pitiful attempt at taming his hair.  
  
"Who are we against again?" He asked, flustered. Ginny took one look at him and burst out laughing. She grabbed the comb from him and attempted to brush his messy hair.  
  
"Slytherin, you dummy," she giggled. Harry nodded, moving restlessly beneath Ginny's comb, anxious to start playing now.  
  
When she had finished with his hair (it didn't look much better than when she had started), Harry turned to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.  
  
"We'll finish what we started after we win, beautiful." he whispered seductively in her ear. She laughed and pushed gently against his chest.  
  
"Ok, Harry. But you have to make sure we win first!" She danced out of his grasp and headed for the door. Harry chuckled and strode after her. This was a match he REALLY couldn't afford to lose. 


	9. Quidditch and Its Many Distractions

Ginny waited nervously in the Gryffindor Quidditch waiting room, which was where all the players waited while the game was set up on the Pitch above. It was also a good time for their Captain to give his Speech. Ron was drilling them with the most passionate pep-talk he'd ever invented, and all seven players listened to him, shuffling their feet anxiously.  
"These Slytherin's all be piss-easy to beat if we play the game right, my friends. You know what you have to do. It should be a knock-over, what with the line-up we have this year. Damned wicked beaters," (he glanced at Geoffry and Godrey) "The best Chasers in the school," (He grinned in Mandy and Colin's direction) "The Best bloody Seeker in the Century, and a fargin' good Keeper, if I do say so myself," (he winked at Ginny). "Also, I must add, you have a bloody talented Captain. Godrey and Geoffry, not meaning to put much pressure on you or anything, but you need to go for Malfoy. Knock that dipshit out, and we have the game in the bag." Ron nodded to himself and stood up properly, breathing in deeply. "Now we just have to wait for the ruddy whistle to blow."  
  
Ginny glanced at Harry. He was leaning against the wall, looking calm and collected. She drew in a shaky breath, wishing that she was feeling as good as Harry looked. She knew that Slytherin were not as bad as Ron had been saying, but they were next to nothing without their Seeker, Malfoy. He may have bought his way onto their team in his Second Year, but he had certainly proved himself since. However, despite Malfoy's improvement, he hadn't yet beaten Harry to the Snitch. Not yet...  
  
Harry must have noticed Ginny's worried look, because suddenly, from behind her, she felt his hand touch her back. Ginny sighed shakily and leaned into him, although not making it obvious enough for anyone to suspect anything. The whistle blew on the Pitch above them, and they began filing out.  
  
"Good luck Gin," Harry breathed in her ear, and just had time to kiss her gently before the doors opened. The Gryffindors entered the Pitch like Gladiators to the cheers of the crowd. Harry gave her a sexy wink and pushed off from the ground. Ginny, blushing, pushed off after him and took her place in the air with the other players. Below her, Malfoy stood, arrogantly waiting to shake Ron's hand for the 'traditional Captaincy hand- shake'. He glanced up at Ginny and, smirking, ran his tongue slowly along his upper lip suggestively. Ginny averted her eyes from him and concentrated on Ron. He seemed very put out by the fact that he had to touch Malfoy's hand. The revolted look on his face said it all. Their hand shake quickly turned into an arm wrestle that had to be hurriedly broken up by Madame Hooch, who narrowly missing a punch thrown by Ron at Malfoy's head. Glaring, Ron backed off and jumped on his broom. Malfoy's amused, maddening smirk almost had Ron off his broom to have another go at him, but then the whistle blew, and the game began.  
  
Ginny flew over to defend the Slytherin Goal posts. At that moment, however, it was the Slytherin Keeper who was having the work out, trying desperately to stop three moroon figures pelting the quaffle past him.  
  
"Ten points ALREADY to Gryffindor!" Yelled Dean Thomas into the megaphone. Dean was the new Commentator, after being trained the year before by the legendary Lee Jordan himself. Dean had also picked up on a few of Lee's habits. "Ten-Zero, Gryffindor's way!"  
  
Ginny clapped and cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindors. Suddenly, a Bludger came hurtling towards her and she ducked and missed it by a whisper. She recovered and glared up at Geoffry. "Bloody hell, Geoffry! You're meant to keep those things AWAY from me!" Geoffry smiled sheepishly.  
  
"Sorry about that, Ginny," he called to her, belting the same bludger straight at a Slytherin Chaser. It narrowly missed his head.  
  
"Piss off, Dickhead!" He shrieked at Geoffry. Before either Ginny or Geoffry could react, the Quaffle came sailing in a great arc towards the highest goal post. With a burst of speed, Ginny flew up, deftly caught and tossed it to Dennis in one fluid motion.  
  
"Not bad, Weasley," Ginny heard a voice drawl. She knew who it was, so she decided to ignore it. Maybe he'd go back to seeking if she didn't respond.  
  
"You know, you're not half bad looking, for a Weasley. I don't know about that red hair of yours, though." He half spoke to himself, as if he were examining a horse. "Red hair's never been my thing, although-"  
  
"Then why don't you bugger off, if red hair is not your thing?" Ginny turned around and snapped. She cursed herself for rising to his taunts. Malfoy sniggered.  
  
"Ooh, touchy touchy, Weasley. You certainly have a temper to match that hair of yours. Which is a good thing." He smirked suggestively. "With that temper, you'd be a right tiger in the bedroom, I'll bet."  
  
Ginny's eyes widened in fury. "Well, you're never going to find out!" She spluttered indignantly. "So get back to looking for your Snitch!"  
  
"I AM looking for the Snitch!" Malfoy cried innocently. "I thought I saw it around here."  
  
"You mean, you thought you saw a young redhead over here who you'd sexually harrass," Ginny snapped.  
  
Malfoy smirked. "Yeah, that too."  
  
Ginny ignored his comment."Hell," she complained, "I'm not getting much action this end. Your lot a bit rusty this year, Malfoy?" It was her turn to smirk.  
  
"I could give you some action, Weasley." Malfoy flew up right beside her, crowding her slightly. "Just hop on my broom. I'll give you the ride of your life." His eyes glinted dangerously, suggestively. His tight Quidditch pants did nothing to hide his excitement now. Ginny's eyes widened in fury as Malfoy's hands moved to her robes. She couldn't believe he'd try something like that, in the middle of the Quidditch Pitch! She drew back, angry and slightly rattled, and slapped him hard in the face, just as the megaphone rang out again.  
  
"And it looks as if Malfoy may have found the Snitch! Up Ginny Weasley's robes!" Dean shrieked. "But he's gotten a right slap for it, I can tell you! I can see his face is glowing from here! Get away from her right now, Malfoy, or you'll have Weasley number six knock you off your broom! Or Potter, for that matter!"  
  
Harry, mad with rage, was careering faster than lightning towards Malfoy. "Get your filthy, slimy hands off her!" He bellowed. Just in time, Malfoy saw him and ducked out of the way. Harry spun around on his broom, ready to kill. Malfoy was sitting lazily on his broom, jeering. Ginny was glaring at Malfoy, shaking slightly. She looked white and very shaken up. Harry was ready to bash Malfoy's head in when Madame Hooch blew the whistle and quickly flew up to them.  
  
"Alright you three, what's this all about?" She asked sternly.  
  
"He was bloody well feeling her up on her broom, the filthy perve!" Harry shouted.  
  
"That's bullshit, Potter" Malfoy argued back. "She was friggin' well asking for it, the little tart-"  
  
"Mind your tongue, Mr Malfoy," Madame Hooch warned. Draco went on, ignoring her.  
  
"You should have seen her, or rather, heard what she was saying! If there's one way to lead a guy on, it's-"  
  
"That's a fargin' lie, and you know it!" Harry yelled, shaking with rage. "You just wanted to try it on one of the only girls you haven't tried it on in the whole school!"  
  
"At least I get some, Potter. Unlike you, Mr. 'I-couldn't-get-laid-if-I- tried.'" Malfoy sniggered nastily at Harry, when suddenly his expression changed, and he glanced at Ginny. "Or maybe you can get laid now?"  
  
Harry's eyes snapped open. "Why you fu-"  
  
"Mr Potter, rising to Mr Malfoy's taunts will prove nothing," Madame Hooch interrupted. Harry stopped, and calmed down a little, but was still glaring murderously at Malfoy, who sat lazily on his broom, the same arrogant smirk on his face.  
  
"As far as I can gather," Madame Hooch continued, "What Mr Malfoy did deserves at least a Penalty shot for Gryffindor. Miss Ricketts!" Mandy looked up from where she had been trying to listen in on the conversation below them. "Take a Penalty shot at Goal." The crowd below cheered as Mandy took the Quaffle, ready resuming game-play.  
  
"What?! Just a Penalty! He should be bloody well suspended!" Harry shouted at Madame Hooch. She shook her head, telling him it would 'only make things worse' and flew to Malfoy. "I'm warning you, Mr Malfoy, another stunt like that and you'll be off the Slytherin Quidditch team before you can say 'Hogwarts.'" Malfoy simply sniggered and went back to looking for the Snitch.  
  
"Did you hear that!?" Dean's voice echoed around the Pitch. "Penalty shot for Gryffindor after Malfoy slingily tried to feel up Ginny Weasley. Of all the repulsive, dirty play, I've never witnessed anything as sly or as-"  
  
"Dean!" Everyone heard McGonagall bark. "Get on with the match!"  
  
"Sorry Professor," Dean said off-handedly, "And just like that, Mandy Ricketts throws that Quaffle straight through the ring. Beautiful shot there, Mandy, flew clean past him! But that's no wonder really, as Mandy here is on a WhizzBeevis 360, which is capable of breakneck speeds over short distances, and is second only to the two famous Brooms Potter and Miss Weasley are riding, the incredible Orbits, which-"  
  
"Dean!!" McGonagall shrieked, "Get to the game right now, or this will be your last match Commentating!"  
  
"Bloody Hell, Professor!" Everyone heard Dean argue. "I was just giving everyone some inside information on Broomsticks and their many wonderful functions-"  
  
"I am NOT paying you to advertise Broomsticks, Thomas! So get on with what you ARE being payed for!" McGonagall yelled.  
  
"So-REE, Professor," Dean said in an offended tone. But that was forgotten as everyone turned back to concentrate on the increasingly violent match.  
  
Ginny circled her goal posts, bored. It may have been violent up the other end, but where Ginny was, it was deserted. The Quaffle hadn't even reached her side of the Pitch since Mandy's Penalty shot, and that was ten minutes ago. She tried not to think about Malfoy, or what he'd said about her. Was she a little tart? Was she just some sex for Harry? She swallowed hard, shaking her head. Then she remembered how defensive Harry had been. Harry did love her. She meant more to him than just sex.  
  
"YEAH! Gryffindor score yet again! Sixty-Zero, Gryffindor's way! Bugger me, we're good!" Dean shouted into the megaphone, almost bursting everyone's eardrums, and earning boos and abuse from the Slytherin crowd.  
  
Harry circled high above the game. He was still fuming from what Malfoy had said about Ginny. That son of a bitch. How dare he?! Harry had been far too angry and distracted to be searching for the Snitch, too consumed by the thought of inflicting as much pain on Malfoy as possible. He glanced down at Ginny. He knew she had been really hurt by the things Malfoy had said. He would go to her after the match and comfort her, tell her that he didn't believe what Malfoy had said about her, and about him.  
  
Harry hadn't seen the snitch at all that game. But then he had to admit that, like Malfoy, he hadn't really been looking for it either. Ginny's brilliant red hair kept flashing before him, teasing his senses. It flowed behind her, making her look like some wild, untamed temptress. Despite all that had happened between Ginny, Malfoy and himself, his loins tightened at the thought of what he and Ginny had to 'finish' after the game.  
  
Suddenly, a flash of gold tore his eyes away from Ginny's hair. Finally! The bloody thing, Harry thought to himself. He sped after it. Draco had seen it too, and was tearing away just ahead of Harry. All at once, there was a great commotion. The Seekers had flown right into the heart of the game, and before Harry or Malfoy knew what was happening, a great crack split through the Stadium, and Ron toppled off his broom and fell through the air, unconcious. Gently, Madame Hooch leviated him to the ground and blew her whistle to signal time out. After a quick douse of water in his face, Ron woke up, groggy and with a splitting headache.  
  
"What the hell just happened?" He croaked out.  
  
"Malfoy knocked you off your broom, Ron." Ginny told him gently. "Your head hit the handle of his broom, I think."  
  
"Bet he bloody did that on purpose!" Ron tried to shout, but grabbed his throbbing head in pain.  
  
"Ron! Ron are you alright?" Hermione came running to him off the side-lines of the game, and took his head in her hands. "What on earth happened to you? First you were flying around with the Quaffle, and the next thing we knew, you were falling out of the sky. I was so scared!"  
  
"He was just knocked out, Hermione," Harry told her. "He'll be alright, but I doubt he'll be able play for the rest of the Match."  
  
"Hold on!" Ron cried out. "I'm playing the rest of the Match! We're struggling as it is, coz they're playing so dirty, but with one less Chaser- "  
  
"Mr Weasley, you will be going nowhere but perhaps the Hospital Wing." Madame Hooch told him sternly.  
  
"But-"  
  
"No 'buts', Mr Weasley. Dennis Creevey will be the fill-in Chaser. Miss Granger, if you will be so kind as to take Mr Weasley here to the Change rooms, and then on to the Hospital Wing?" Hermione nodded and took Ron under the arm, pulling him up as he winced with pain and touched his swollen head.  
  
"Don't worry, Ron. I'll catch the Snitch and win us the game." Harry promised him.  
  
"You'd better," Ron growled, and hobbled off to the Change rooms.  
  
"Alright. Everyone, on your brooms and resume play!" Madame Hooch blew her whistle, and everyone flew back up into their positions.  
  
"After yet ANOTHER disgusting display of cheating, flithy play by Malfoy, the game resumes!" Dean described to the spectators. "I reckon Malfoy might be trying to break the world record of the Most cheating in One match of Quidditch, don't you think Professor?" Dean asked rather boldly. "Only joking, Professor," he added hastily, seeing the look on McGonagall's face.  
  
"Finally, a Slytherin in possession of the Quaffle. Somehow, I think the Slytherins will see a lot more of the quaffle as the game goes on, what with Gryffindor's leading Chaser out of the game. Instead, we have little Dennis Creevey to take his place, and although he is a brilliant Chaser, he is a little inexperienced, especially when it comes to playing against cheating scum like these wan-" Dean glanced at McGonagall-"These-uh- Slytherins, I meant to say." McGonagall glared down at him warningly. Dean continued as if nothing had happened  
  
"Gavin Gangrin, a Slytherin Chaser has the Quaffle-no wait! Not anymore! Crap throw there, Gangrin, Mandy Ricketts easily caught it! You'd better do better than that! Alright, Miss Ricketts throws the Quaffle to Colin, who-- What the F**k!? What the hell do you call that, you cheating shits?!" Dean bellowed in outrage, "Did you see that everyone?! Malfoy actually threw-- yes THREW--a beaters bat at Creevey's head! He's out cold too! Well, out cold is a bit of a joke! Malfoy almost took his bloody head off! You son of a cheating bitch!"  
  
Ginny watched in dismay as Colin was gently leviated to the ground. They were going down like nine-pins. She looked up and saw Harry just above her.  
  
"Harry! Hey! HARRY!" Ginny yelled at him. Harry looked down and flew over to her.  
  
"Yes yes, I know, I know. I have to find that bloody Snitch before Malfoy kills one of us." Harry muttered. Ginny couldn't help but grin slightly at him.  
  
"Well yes, you do need to find the Snitch. Really soon." She pressed. "Besides," Ginny added mischieviously, "I want my favourite Seeker in one piece for 'later on.'  
  
Harry smiled in delight. "Don't worry Ginny. Whatever happens, I'll still be more than fit for what we have in mind for later on." As she began to fly off, he called her back. "Oh, and Ginny?" She turned around. "I didn't believe one word of what Malfoy said about you."  
  
Ginny smiled in gratified relief. "Thankyou, Harry."  
  
Harry grinned at her and flew off, just as the whistle blew once again for play to resume.  
  
****  
  
Draco searched desperately for the Snitch. The game had been going for about three hours now, and it was raining and beginning to get dark. The players were all exhausted. Even he was, as much as Malfoy hated to admit it. Bloody Potter didn't look too good either, which he took great delight in commenting on. In fact, the only player in the whole stadium who looked good was Ginny. Her hair was plastered around her shoulders in curly, wet ringlets. Her moroon Quidditch robes were darkened with the rain, and clingling to her soaked body alluringly. He tilted his head to the side, gazing at her. He really wanted her. Ginny may be a Weasley, but she was a damned good-looking one, and Draco had always appreciated good looks. And a temper. And a challenge. He knew it would be tough getting Ginny to want him, and that was what excited him. He stared at her, at her dark, wet hair and her slim body. He imagined those slim legs around his waist, that curly red hair spread across his pillow like crackling fire. Her hands around his neck, her back arched, moaning, begging him for more...  
  
A sudden roaring cheer broke through his heated fantasies. He looked up to see Potter doing a victory lap around the pitch, a tiny gold ball flickering in his hand. Shit. Potter had the Snitch. He'd beaten him to it again! Gryffindor had beaten Slytherin, and it was his fault. He'd basically given the game away because he'd been too busy perving on the female Weasley.  
  
He sighed in frustrated annoyance at himself and his disturbing attraction to Ginny Weasley. Malfoy quickly flew down to the Pitch and jumped of his broom, striding quickly to the Change-rooms, and not bothering to wait for his dejected, drenched and devastated team. Slytherin had ended up losing the match by about 200 points.  
  
He looked back at the Gryffindor team celebrating in the middle of the Pitch, and was just in time to see a soaked and sexy Ginny fling her arms around Potter. Glowering, he turned back in the direction of the Change rooms and swore. Why did she like Potter so much? Why didn't she like him? Every other girl in the damned castle did. Suddenly, a thought struck him and he smiled slowly to himself. It didn't matter if she liked him or not. He would have her anyway. 


	10. Draco

Draco quickly changed into his Slytherin robes and stormed of the Change rooms and back to Hogwarts Castle. A mixture of anger at losing the match, annoyance over bloody Weasley, and sexual frustration over the Weasley female had all combined to put Draco in a very bad mood.  
  
He stomped up the steps to the Castle and crashed straight into a dark haired figure. She fell backwards, her black hair spilling about her shoulders.  
  
"Thanks." It was Cho, Potters girlfriend. Really quite pretty in a way, Draco thought to himself. Her hair was long, straight and silky, and her eyes were dark and a nice shape. Probably her best feature, Draco mused. He reached out a hand to help her (although he didn't really know why) only to see that her face was tear streaked and pale.  
  
"Whats wrong with you?" Malfoy asked in a nasty way, not really caring what her answer would be.  
  
"Nothing," Cho mumbled. "Nothing that concerns you anyway, Malfoy."  
  
"You think so? Well I guess thats a possibility. But, let me see, this is too good, this is classical!......Potter dumped you, right?!" Draco asked cruelly. Tears sprang to her eyes once more.  
  
"Well, I must have guessed right then, judging by the look on your sad and sorry face." Draco went on..."Doesn't surprise me though, you should have seen the way he reacted when I tried it on that redhead. He went apeshit!!"  
  
"DON'T talk to me about that conniving little slut, Malfoy. Its all her fault that I'm like this! I hate her, I hate Harry too. They deserve each other," Cho spat, not really knowing-or caring for that matter-what she was saying about Harry, whom she still loved.  
  
Draco's eyes darkened. "Never say that. Ginny deserves better than anything Potter could ever give her." He'd said the words before he'd even thought about them. He'd practically handed Cho the key to the secret diary of his heart. And not many people had been there. 'Shit,' he cursed himself silently.  
  
"Oh, for Merlins sake! DON'T tell me you like that little bitch too? Yeah everyone's obsessed with her at the moment. My boyfriend included! Sorry, my ex-boyfriend! What does she have that I don't??" Bitter rage and jealousy overcame her.  
  
"Calm down Chang! As if I'd ever go for a Weasel!" Draco tried to cover up for himself. As if I wouldn't! "But anyone deserves better than Potter. He's a total dipshit."  
  
"I'm not going to argue on that one," Cho replied, her voice thick with contempt.  
  
As they were talking, Draco and Cho were walking absent mindedly. Before they knew it, they found themselves in an empty 7th floor corridor.  
  
"What the hell am I doing here? And alone with YOU? Cho shrieked, almost hysterical after all the recent happenings. Draco just stared at her, his gaze becoming more and more heated. His eyes travelled over her copper coloured face. Beautiful. Although his dream girl would have paler skin somewhat, and brown eyes, not black like Cho's, he imagined. As his eyes moved up to her hair, was it just him, or did it seem almost.....red in the dull torch light.  
  
'Oh, Ginny' he whispered to himself.  
  
And then his lips were on Cho's, as he violently kissed her. But it wasn't Cho's lips that he was kissing, to Draco it was Ginny's small, soft, rose coloured lips that he tasted. As his hands pulled desperately at her robes, it was not Cho's tan body he saw beneath, but Ginny's ivory figure. It was not Cho who kissed him desperately back. It was Ginny, only Ginny.  
  
As Draco backed her against the wall, her legs about his waist, it was not Cho, but Ginny who felt him harden, who helped guide him into her. It was Ginny, whom he was plunging into (and a fine fit she was too) over and over. It was Ginny who cried out in agonisingly wonderful rapture, calling his name, gripping him tightly, not Cho. To Draco it wasn't Cho whom he had sex with in the corridor. It was Ginny.  
  
Then it was over, and Draco came back to reality, panting for breath. With a violent jolt, he saw that it was not Ginny gasping for breath in his arms, but Cho. Disgusted with her and himself, he quickly and roughly pulled himself out of her, did up his pants and turned to Cho. He spat one biting word at her.  
  
"Slut."  
  
Cho, eyes wide with shock, watched him walk away hurriedly. She felt like she had been slapped in the face. Draco had called her a slut. She felt lower than low. Draco had used her like a cheap piece of sex relief! Like one of his whores, Pansy or Parvati! What a way to spend a day. Break up with Harry, watch Harry AND Ginny play quidditch together, watch Harry and Ginny celebrate with each other (like the little lovers that they were) and then let Malfoy screw her .  
  
She sank down against the wall and began to sob quietly. Let this day pass quickly, please.........  
****  
  
Ginny was enjoying a quiet soothing shower all by herself in the girls Quidditch Change rooms. Gryffindor had won! She smiled happily to herself. But what a game. That had been a great catch by Harry. He had proven yet again that he was the best seeker in a century. The only thing that really dampened her mood was Malfoy. His harrassing of her had scared Ginny a little. He had been so serious and so intense. It wasn't as if he was just perving either (she was used to that anyway). Draco had acted in a way that said he really wanted her. Anyone BUT Malfoy, Ginny thought. She remembered his lust filled eyes and his tight breeches. She hadn't even DONE anything and he was hard. How did that work then?? Draco was always cold and nasty, never like this...  
  
"What the hell....?" Ginny spun round, her cry echoing around the changerooms and out into the empty corridor. There was no one there, but Ginny swore she had felt a hand brush against her waist. It was creepy. And to make matters worse, she didn't want to think about what Draco might try and do, if it was him.  
  
Ginny could sense someone or something in the changerooms. Someone was hiding. But there was nowhere to hide, the change rooms appeared to be empty. Then maybe they're invis-...  
  
"Harry!" Ginny screamed. "Stop bloody perving and show yourself!"  
  
She stood under the shower, panting from her scare. She felt strong arms around her waist, looking up, she saw Harry staring down at her, lifting the invisability cloak from his head. He had fire in his eyes, and through his Gryffindor towel, which was draped slackly around his waist, she could feel him harden against her stomache.  
  
Harry pulled her close into him and wrapped the invisability cloak tightly around them both. He kissed her strongly and possesively, then murmured gently against her ear, "Didn't you say we had something to finish?"  
  
Ginny, distracted by his lips and hands, pulled away slightly. "No, I think you said it actually!" She teased. "But I think we do." She pulled Harry's head down to hers and kissed him gently. The water poured all around them as they embraced each other. Harry caressed Ginny's back as she kissed him along his jawline and ran her tongue down his collar bone. Harry groaned for the first time and he propped Ginny up against shower wall, kissing her in a long, passionate kiss.  
  
In and flash, Ginny removed the towel from around Harry's waist, and she moaned herself. Harry's manhood stood proud and erect. Curiously, almost cautiously, Ginny clasped him in her small hands. Harry groaned louder and pushed himself closer, pressing Ginny tight against the tiled wall.  
  
"I want you so badly Ginny," he managed to say, before Ginny clasped him tighter and he gasped. The hot water was still running. It poured over them like a hot spring waterfall. It made her hair curl lusciously around her face and the water ran in rivulets down her curves. The invisability cloak was forgotten for the moment as Ginny arched her back and helped guide Harry into her.  
  
This time was a little different. No longer did she experience pain, and she wasn't so scared. She knew Harry, she trusted him, and she she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Ginny moaned softly, but she began to moan louder as Harry entered her quickly and claimed her in one swift motion. Again she cried out, as Harry thrust into her. He called her name and groaned as he came. For a brief moment, they were together as one, washed in a sea of intimacy. Nothing could come between them.  
  
****  
  
Draco stormed away. 'That was good,' he thought- but it was only Cho. Why her? He guessed that it was because she was on hand at the right time. Nothing more than a good, quick root. His sexual needs had been fulfilled, but his infatuation with Ginny did not cease.  
  
Ever since he caught her eye at the Ball, he had grown interested. Ginny was beautiful, clearly one of the hottest chicks attending Hogwarts now. Harry had clearly beaten him to her, but that wasn't a problem, he would have his way with anyone he pleased. That included the redhead.  
  
Draco turned the corner and continued up the passage way, he then entered a small door and hurried along the long, winding staircase to the Slytherin common room below.  
  
Crabbe and Goyle were lounging on the leather chesterfield couches eating snot flavoured peanuts. Not that they were aware of the extra flavouring. Draco had put a spell on them before he left for quidditch that morning.  
  
"How did the match go Draco?" Goyle sprayed a whole mouthful of peanuts onto the stone floor.  
  
"Fine thanks, Pig" he barked. Draco was in no mood to answer questions. Especially lame ones coming from Goyle. As if he cared how the quidditch match went now!?  
  
"You're fathers up in the guest wing Draco. He came down earlier and had a go at Goyle. He was really angry that you lost. No, I mean really pissed off. Kinda funny really!" Crabbe proceeded to laugh his arse off. No one else did.  
  
"Think its funny do you dipshit!? I happened to have my mind on more important things at the time. Unlike you guys, who always think of food. You don't even f**king care! You didn't even come and watch, you just sat here the whole bloody time eating snot flavoured peanuts." Draco glared at them. He felt a little better taking his anger out on his friends.  
  
"What?" Goyle accidently sprayed another gobb-full of peanut crumbs everywhere.  
  
Draco sighed in annoyance.  
  
"I don't have time for you two at the moment, do you know where my father went? Is he still up in his room?  
  
"As far as I know. Oh, he also said that he was going to poison Potters owl before he went to bed. I think it was a joke." Crabbe looked a little baffled.  
  
"Poison Potters owl, hey? That would be a laugh. Potter would ball his eyes out!"  
  
Then he added in a serious tone,  
  
"I'll be back later tonight- very late." 


	11. Let's Talk About Sex

It was around 11 o'clock at night, but the Gryffindor Common Room was still glowing with soft candlelight.  
  
Ginny and Harry were snuggling together on one of the small velvet couches. Ron was sitting the couch opposite, trying to plait Hermione's hair, who was sitting at his feet immersed in her Magical Costumes book. Ginny had been straightening the twigs on her Orbit, but now she was nodding off to sleep on Harry's lap.  
  
"Great match today, Harry," Ron whispered, so as not too disturb Ginny. Harry looked up from where he had absent-mindedly been playing with Ginny's curls.  
  
"Mmmm, wasn't bad," he replied. "Wonder what's happened to Malfoy though? He left in a right shit after we won."  
  
Ron nodded, smirking. "Yeah, I know, but he was pretty funny to watch. By the way, Harry," Ron added in a whisper, "You'd better watch Ginny. Malfoy was full-on hitting on her today."  
  
Harry's eyes darkened momentarily. "I know. Just because she's about the only chick in the school he hasn't hit on yet."  
  
Hermione glanced at Harry and shook her head. "Nope, that's not the reason. Ginny's gorgeous, Harry. He's hitting on her because she's one of the prettiest girls in the school." Ron nodded in agreement.  
  
Harry unconciously gripped Ginny's shoulder possesively. "Don't think I haven't noticed that, Hermione. I know how gorgeous she is. And Malfoy can piss off. She's spoken for," he growled darkly.  
  
"Are you talking about me?" Ginny asked groggily, pulling herself up from Harry's lap sleepily. Her hair was messy from Harry playing with it and her short sleep.  
  
"Don't worry, Ginny. It's nothing important," Harry told her, kissing the top of her head. Hermione frowned at him, but said nothing.  
  
Ron averted his eyes and looked down at the pathetic chestnut-brown plait in his hands and gave a frustrated cry. "How do girls do this?" He fumed. "It's bloody impossible, I tell you! Don't you dare start laughing at me, Harry! I bet you couldn't do any better! Go on, try Ginny's hair. You won't be able to do it either!"  
  
Hermione turned around and grabbed her hair from Ron's hands. "You're useless, Ron. Plaiting is easy! I think I'll do it myself." She turned back around and quickly plaited the length of it herself.  
  
Ron gave her a glare. "Just 'cause you're a girl, and girls are the only people who can do it," he snapped at her. Hermione giggled. Ginny was trying to tell Harry he was plaiting her hair wrong (he had taken up Ron's challenge after all), and he had her hair in all sorts of complicated twists, none of which looked remotely like a plait.  
  
"Harry! I'm never going to be able to get all these knots out!" She cried. "I blame this on you, Ron! If you hadn't challenged him, then my hair would look relatively normal right now! It's all your fault!" It was Ron's turn to laugh now. Harry was shaking with laughter too.  
  
"Bloody boys." Ginny stated angrily to Hermione. She rolled her eyes in agreement, and Harry and Ron fell on the floor in fits. Ginny glared at them. "Funny funny ha ha." She snapped.  
  
Harry, clutching his sides, tried to sober up. "Sorry, Gin. I couldn't help myself. It's ok, I'm shutting up now." He pulled himself off the floor and back onto the couch with Ginny. Ron did the same with Hermione. Harry grabbed Ginny around the waist and pulled her under him, so she was flat on her back beneath him. He bent to kiss her, when Ron suddenly cried in disgust,"Get a room, you sickos!"  
  
Harry grinned up at him, and Ginny placed her arms around his neck. "Ron, do you mean to tell me that this is foreign to you? I bet you and Hermione have done similar things before." Harry stirred.  
  
Ron blushed bright red, trying to say something, but no words were coming out of his mouth. Hermione smirked and turned to face Ron. "Come on Ron. Harry's our best friend. We should tell him what we get up to at night."  
  
Ron gaped at her. "Hermione! That information is strictly between you and me!"  
  
Ginny giggled. "So you do get up to things, you two!?"  
  
"No!" Ron yelled. "We do not! And if we did, I would not be divulging the information to my nosy little sister!"  
  
"He's actually pretty good, Ginny," Hermione reasoned. "You wouldn't think so by looking at him, but he's not all that bad in bed."  
  
Ginny and Harry howled with laughter, but Ron blushed to the roots of his hair. "Hermione, shut up! My stupid sister isn't meant to know any of that! And shut your dumb face, Harry!"  
  
"Ronnie, I'm only teasing!" Hermione laughed. Ginny and Harry cracked up again.  
  
"Shut up, you two!" Ron shrieked at them. "And you can't talk, Harry! I bet you and my sister have been at it like rabbits ever since you started dating!"  
  
Harry tried to stop laughing."Before we started dating, actually." He corrected. It was Ginny's turn to blush as red as the Weasley hair now.  
  
"Well, there you go!" Ron spluttered. "What did I just say! You can't start paying us out then, Harry! You and Ginny have only been going out for two days!"  
  
"But like I said, Ron. We were having sex before we dated." Which was only last night come to think of it, Harry thought. Ginny gasped and grabbed Harry, putting her hand on his mouth to prevent him from saying anything more. Ron blushed at the utterance of the word "sex," and Hermione giggled at his immaturity.  
  
"I don't want to talk about this anymore, Harry." Ron stated. "You and Ginny do what you like. Hermione and I'll do the same. Let's not have people nosing into each other's business." He glared at his sister meaningfully. She laughed, but suddenly shrieked and flung her hand away from Harry's mouth.  
  
"Harry!" She yelled at him. He was laughing his head off. "That's disgusting, Harry! He just licked my hand, Mione!" She screeched, incensed. "Do you know how gross that feels? I can't get over that Harry, you're revolting!" She wiped her hand gingerly on Harry's shoulder. Harry quietened down for the third time that night and took deep gulps of air to control his breathing. He took her hand again, but this time he kissed it. Ginny tugged her hand away anyway.  
  
"I'm not gonna let you touch me after that, Harry," she snapped. Harry leant back on the couch, chuckling deeply.  
  
"Come on Gin. I'm not that bad a licker. And I'll die if you don't let me touch you anymore!" He cried piteously.  
  
Ginny glared at him. "Harry?" He glanced up at her, grinning in amusement. She glared at the expression on his face. "Bite me," she snapped.  
  
Harry grinned delightedly, "Oh, if I have to," he joked, and his mouth lowered on hers, his white teeth nibbling her bottom lip. Ginny pushed against Harry's chest, but gave up after a second and kissed and bit him back savagely. After all, kissing Harry was her second favourite pastime. Ron didn't notice them this time. He was too busy kissing Hermione. Slyly, Ginny pulled away from Harry's lips and took his large hand in both of hers and ran her tongue down his palm.  
  
"Ginny!" Harry gasped, yanking his hand away from her in shock. She grinned mischieviously, relishing her revenge.  
  
"There now," She said sweetly, "You didn't like it any more than I did, did you, Harry?"  
  
Harry's eyes narrowed as he regarded her. Then his mouth slowly curved into a sly smile. "I didn't mind it actually, Ginny. You could do it again if you'd like. Or I'll lick you, I don't mind which."  
  
Ginny sighed in pleasure, "Trust you to turn it sexual," she murmered as his tongue darted out to run along her lips.  
  
Ron was just coming up for air in Hermione's arms, when he saw Harry licking Ginny's mouth. "Ok! I think we'll be making tracks, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, maybe a little too loudly. Hermione disentangled herself from him and rested her head against Rons shoulder.  
  
"Come on Ginny, I think its time to go to bed now." He put his arm around her waist and lifted her up in his arms. Harry climbed the stairs and said good night to Ron and Hermione. He then turned to Ginny. "Seeya in the morning georgous!" She savoured his kiss and watched him walk across to his own dorm. But Ginny was not tired.  
  
****  
  
Draco struggled with the heavy door. He was up in the top most tower of the guest wing. It was always reserved for his father, Lucius.  
  
Draco closed the door behind him. It was rather dark inside and he expected to see his father, but he was not there. Instead, Dracos attention was drawn to the ceiling, which was lined with lumionus snakes which glowed in soft oranges and yellows. Lucius liked making magic images, especially those which scared people. Draco guessed that it came naturally with his father. Last time when Draco was home, Lucius had scared the shit out of his son, when he made a flying set of blood-red eyes fly out of the roast dinner. Narcissa had been furious, but Lucius just glared.  
  
The snakes looked relatively harmless, however and so Draco took the chance and stepped one foot further into Lucius's domain.  
  
"Father, are you in here?" No answer. "Guess not then" Draco murmured to himself.  
  
Draco decided to look around, afterall, this was one of the first times that he had EVER been alone in his fathers guest room. He didn't even think that he had ever been in Lucius's bedroom chamber at home. Not ever. But he still knew what sort of goodies that his father hid, the problem was that he didn't know where to start.  
  
"God, there must be something decent that he's left lying around."  
  
He began to pick through wizard hats, python canes, black robes, wands, silver skulls, enchanted watches, small green bottles of poison and large bottles of alcohol. Nothing unusual, Draco thought, as he took a swigg of port.  
  
The lanterns gleamed with soft fire, Draco had been exploring for around an hour and there was still no sign of his father. He figured that was a good thing since Lucius did not like anyone sorting through his black magic. No one had even dared. Draco would be punished severly if he was caught.  
  
He sat back in his fathers leather armchair and proceeded to read a loose parchment. 'Dark Mark Gazette.' The headlines read 'Deatheaters looming lust for Mudblood' and 'Martin Lestrange, A promising new Dark Lord' Draco smirked. "Well, well, Martin thinks he's top shit this year." He slammed the parchment down, "Isn't there anything decent here?"  
  
It was pitch black outside, yet the stars were incredibly bright. Draco was begginning to wonder if his father ever slept because his bed wasn't even touched. The black silk sheets were made perfectly, the silver symbols on his bed were intriging, so interesting in fact that Draco wanted a closer look. Without warning, a loud hiss warded him away. It was Silivriss, Lucius's cobra, which was coiled on the black sheets. Draco stepped back rather quickly, this was enough to make him want to leave. Afterall, his father had STILL not shown up and he desperately needed to speak with him before bloody breakfast time. He wanted a better broom from him for a start, those goddamned nimbus 2001's were a heap of shit. He also needed some advice on Ginny, although when he thought about it, tonight wasn't really a good night to do it. He had lost the quidditch match and his father had seen everything. He may not be in a good mood, but then again, Lucius rarely was.  
  
Slamming the door, Draco started down the winding stairs, he weaved in and out of hidden doors and corridors. Draco knew how to get all over Hogwarts without being seen, so did Lucius. 


	12. The Trouble with Malfoys

Ginny crept into her dorm, careful not to wake anyone up, and changed quickly into her skimpy nightdress. Shiverering from the cold, she hurriedly hopped into her bed and wrapped the quilt around herself. The nightdress she wore was not very practical, nor warm. It was long, but the satin was thin and worn through years of use. It was also getting a little small for her. However, Harry loved her in it, so she continued to wear it for him.  
  
Ginny smiled to herself as the bed began to warm with her body heat, and called out softly for her cat, Sheba. But her new Abyssinian was nowhere to be seen. She usually slept on Ginny's feet, but tonight there was no flash of silver fur against the quilt. Ginny called out to her again, a little louder this time. Nothing. Sighing, Ginny crawled out of bed and wrapped her quilt around her shoulders. She couldn't find her slippers, so she left the dorm barefoot.  
  
Guessing Sheba was down in the Common Room, Ginny made her way down the stairs and into the dimly lit room. Sheba wasn't there. Ginny frowned in annoyance and cursed her adventurous cat. She knew she'd have to go and search for her. If Filch found her, he'd probably shoot her. Harry's Invisibilty Cloak was lying draped over an armchair, so she dropped her quilt on the floor and threw Harry's cloak over her shoulders instead. It was not nearly as warm, but gave her a feeling of security.  
  
She left Gryffindor Tower hurriedly, guessing that the earlier she left, the quicker she'd get back. Resolving to go to the kitchens, she started off down a cold passageway. It was very dark, but the moon shone brilliantly through the windows, casting beams of pale light on the walls. The world looked ghostly and colourless, sending a chill through Ginny. She quickened her pace, eager to get to the kitchens.  
  
Suddenly, there was a noise. Oh My God, Ginny thought to herself, she heard it again. A scratching sound was coming from the other side of the corridor, just a few metres away, in the dark where the moonlight did not reach. The sound didn't seem human, but anything was possible. Ginny's breathing quickened, her heart pounded against her ribcage. It moved suddenly into the light-  
  
It was a cat.  
  
But it was not her cat.  
  
It was Mrs Norris. In her evil jaws she carried a large mouse - still squeaking and squirming in her clutches. Ginny backed away. If Mrs Norris was here, Filch certainly wouldn't be far away.  
  
Ginny turned quietly and fled down the passageway. She entered a couple of side doors and climbed one of the main staircases. She was just turning a corner onto the fifth floor when suddenly her breath was knocked out of her and she fell to the stone floor. Fearfully, she glanced up at what she had just run into.  
  
It was a man, but who the man was, she could not see. He was tall, blond and dressed in black. There were only two men in the world who fitted that description. Draco malfoy and-  
  
Lucius Malfoy.  
  
Ginny gasped in realisation, and the figure straightened up into the moonlight, glaring around him. He had heard her, but he could not see her. The confused look on his face told her that she still had the Invisibilty cloak around her. He was looking straight through her now - his silver eyes gleaming brighter and colder than the moonlight. She slowly backed towards the wall, her heart throbbed and she forgot to breath. Ginny watched him fearfully as she carefully pulled herself up against the wall, getting ready to make a run for it. Lucius still didn't know what had hit him. Maybe, just maybe she could get away undetected.  
  
But Lucius was not that stupid.  
  
Suddenly, as quick as a snake, Lucius's hand darted out and grasped the Invisibility material just below her neck. Ginny gasped in fear as he clasped her firmly and pulled her into him, ripping the hood off her head. His eyes only took a moment to register who she was.  
  
"Well, well. Weasley junior. Or rather... not so junior anymore." Lucius looked deep into her eyes, searching her soul. "Yes, Draco's told me all about you - and Potter. How sweet, a couple now are we? Your choice for a wizard is not very inspiring though. I could think of better."  
  
"Like Draco, you mean." Ginny had said the words before she could stop herself. She was practically frozen in fear! How did that slip out!?  
  
"Not in your wildest dreams, Miss Weasley. I wouldn't wish a Weasley on anyone. Not even my son." A deep hatred was in his voice as he spat the last sentence out. But to Ginny's surprise, he continued.  
  
"Then again... How is it that you ended up a Weasley? You're much too appealing to belong to that family. Disturbingly so, if I may say so."  
  
"No, you may not!" Ginny was shocked at his words. Who did he think he was?  
  
"Oh, but I will say so. And I could say or do a lot more." Lucius stopped, possibly thinking of the consequences of "doing" what he liked to her. His grip tightened around her neck.  
  
Ginny writhed against his painful grip,"Please, just let me go. I want to go back to bed....please..."  
  
"Oh, its not that easy Miss Weasley. You see, as honourable as your intentions may be, no one, walks the school after 9:30. I'm afraid it is now nearly 1:00 am, and you still are not in bed."  
  
"I would be if you let me go" Ginny answered shakily. But Lucius was not listening. He was fingering the invisability cloak she still had draped around her shoulders.  
  
"This is not yours is it? Your family could not afford such a fine cloak. I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate this-" He pulled it from her, and his eyes travelled down to her wrist. His fingers ran along the cold, delicate metal of her bracelet, and he pulled it from her wrist. "-This too," he finished smugly.  
  
Ginny's eyes widened in panic. "But it's Harry's, not mine-"  
  
"This is, is it?" Lucius was holding up her bracelet, an amused gleam in his eye.  
  
Ginny glared at him. "You know what I'm talking about."  
  
"Really?" He laughed softly. "I'm not sure I do. Enlighten me."  
  
"I had to find something, that's all," Ginny explained, "I wasn't doing anything! Don't take the cloak, Harry will kill me. Just let me go, you bastard!" Ginny was frightened, but she was also getting angry now. However, the look on Lucius' face immediately made her regret what she'd just said. He grabbed her chin roughly in his large hand and forced it up close to his face.  
  
"I'm warning you, girl. No one ever speaks to me like that." Ginny recoiled in fear at the look in his piercing eyes, and tried to avoid his penetrating gaze. She said nothing in reply. Lucius' expression softened into a smirk at her submission. He could slap any disobediant woman into line, and this one was no different. Dominance was his weapon.  
  
"Unless you want to get your pretty-little-self expelled," Lucius continued, somewhat calmer, "I suggest you reconsider what you just said. And no, you will not be getting any of these 'items' back. I think Snape will be rather fond of a few presents for once, and-" Ginny squirmed in his grip "-No, you are not going anywhere just yet."  
  
****  
  
Draco frowned. He was beginning to doubt whether he was actually going to find his Father at all. He had looked all over Hogwarts, and there was no sign of him. Finally he turned into a fifth floor corridor and spotted him. Draco picked up his pace and quietly called out to him.  
  
"Father, there you are! I really need to speak with you."  
  
Lucius turned, obviously annoyed at the intrusion. Draco could see that he was not alone. A girl was there too, and his Father had her gripped firmly around the neck. Looking closer, with a throb to his groin, Draco realised that it was in fact Ginny Weasley.  
  
"What the f**k do you want Draco?" Lucius hissed. Then he changed his tone. "Tell me....What is the usual punishment for students who are caught wandering the corridors at night?"  
  
Draco glanced at his father, not really registering what his father had just asked him, he was too busy staring at Ginny and wondering what she was doing in his Father's arms. Lucius began to lose his patience.  
  
"I'll ask you again. What is the punishment for students who are out of bed after dark?"  
  
Draco thought he'd better answer his father. After all, what was Ginny doing wandering around at this time of night anyway? Draco had long forgotten what he had wanted to talk to his father about now. His pale eyes travelled up and down her tempting body, the beginnings of a crafty idea formed in his mind.  
  
"Oh, leave her to me, father."  
  
"I wasn't talking about her," Lucius was quick to snap. "I was talking about you, you stupid boy."  
  
Ginny sensed his grip on her loosen, as his attention turned to his son. Thinking quickly, she made a dash for it. But just like last time, Lucius' hand darted back out and grabbed her, tighter than before. Much tighter. She tried to scream, but he put a gloved hand over her mouth and held her to him. He spoke to her in an angry, dangerous voice.  
  
"Now you listen to me, you little bitch, I said that you weren't going anywhere, and I meant it. I have done far worse to people in similar situations, so just count yourself lucky." He shook her as she cried out against his hand. "And you can stop all that noise, I don't need you waking the whole f**king school."  
  
Draco, shocked at his Father's outburst, and rather defensive, seeing as it was Ginny that he was threatening, stepped forward. "Father, I said I'd deal with her myself."  
  
Lucius turned on his son and sneered. "Yes, you'd like that, wouldn't you? I'm sure you'd love 'dealing' with her." His expression was one of disgust. "Even if she is a Weasley," His attention turned back to Ginny, "and a disobediant one at that."  
  
"Father, let her go," Draco yelled at Lucius. His Father turned back to him again, pinning him with a penetrating stare. But instead of hurling another insult at his son, he thrust Ginny violently into Draco's arms.  
  
"Take her and get back to bed," he snarled, before turning and sweeping off down the passage.  
  
Ginny shrugged herself free of Draco's arms and turned to go.  
  
"Hey," Draco stepped in front of her. "Don't I even get a 'thankyou' kiss for saving your arse from my dipshit Father?"  
  
Ginny sighed in exhaustion and annoyance. "Thankyou then, Draco. But you're not getting a kiss for it."  
  
"Weasley, you know you want to kiss me." Draco sniggered, "What girl in the castle doesn't? Feel privileged, I'm giving you the chance of a life-time."  
  
Ginny gave him a disgusted look. "In your dreams, Malfoy."  
  
Draco smirked at her. He noticed that she was looking very sexy. He drank in the sight of her in the moonlight. She wasn't in Hogwarts robes. She wore a long fitted night-dress which was deliciously low cut and showing off every curve of her body. Her glorious hair was unbound and stained black by the night. It fell, thick and curling, down her back. Draco's eyes travelled back to Ginny's sardonic face.  
  
"Finished yet?" She asked mockingly, her voice dripping with sarcasm. One of her eyebrows was raised. Draco looked deeply into her eyes.  
  
"Not really." He replied honestly. He wouldn't be finished until he'd gotten that bloody flimsy night-dress off her. "Planning a seduction, Weasley?" He drawled softly. Ginny's eyes widened in indignation.  
  
"Certainly not one for you, Malfoy!" She spat at him, and stormed past him angrily. His hand flashed out and gripped her wrist, pulling her hard into him. His breathing came faster.  
  
"Whether you meant it for me or not, the seduction thing is definately working," he growled into her ear. She pushed against him, trying to break free of his grasp, but it was no good. He was as strong as his Father.  
  
"Let me go, Draco! I'm sick of this shit, I've had enough of it for one fricking night!" She shrieked, panicking despite herself. "Let me fricking well go!" She wondered at the back of her mind why she flipped out now, when it was in actual fact a lot more frightening when she was being held by Lucius. She guessed that she'd finally just had enough.  
  
Draco's eyes flashed at her last remark, "Not a chance, Weasley. This is far too good a chance to pass up."  
  
Ginny aimed a kick at his nether regions, but was easily stopped by Draco. "You're not getting anything out of me, you dick-driven asshole!" She cried hysterically.  
  
Draco groaned. "Will you stop struggling, Weasley? You're doing unbearable things to me, here!" Indeed, his body was hard and aching with need.  
  
"Then let me go!" Ginny struggled harder against him. Now she could feel his reaction to her movements quite clearly. His large erection pressed against her stomache. Draco smirked, his hand reaching beneath her night- dress. The thought of rape hadn't entered her mind until now, but now it seemed a strong possibility. She cried out in fear, loud enough for someone to hear.  
  
Draco clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shut the f**k up, Weasley! Just shut the f**king hell up," he growled as he grabbed her and swung her into his arms. Deftly, he pulled open the nearest door and went in, locking it behind them both.  
  
Ginny threw herself out of his arms and wrenched at the door handle, but she was not fast enough. Draco's strong hands pulled her back into his arms and he pulled her around to face him. She pushed against his shoulders, but he lowered her head to his and, almost gently, kissed her. He tugged the straps of her night-dress down, as his lips slid down her neck.  
  
"Draco," Ginny spoke shakily, "Don't do this to me. You know you won't get away with it." She had hoped that saying that might discourage him, but it only provoked him. Angrily, he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her beneath him, his hips grinding against her own. Quickly, he unzipped his pants and extracted his throbbing manhood. Ginny gasped in terror as he violently yanked up her night-dress. Her sobs fell of deaf ears as Draco's hands slid up her body, his fingers fondling her breasts. His knee forcibly pried her legs apart.  
  
Draco loved seeing Ginny like this, seeing her hands desperately struggling with his own. She was always so strong-willed, like she could never be defeated. But now here he was, dominating her and about to claim her. She was weak now. And he liked that.  
  
He moved into position above her, his excitement buliding even more. His hands grabbed hers, pushing her wrists hard into the cold stone floor as his mouth crashed down on hers just as he was about to plunge inside of her-  
  
Suddenly, a great flash of purple light hit Draco square in the stomache. He was flung back against the wall, hitting a row of old shelves. He fell to the floor and coughed softly.  
  
"What the f**k?" He croaked in bewilderment. He looked up and was just in time to see Ginny's slender white form running down the passageway. She'd gotten away, and he hadn't even gotten what he'd wanted from her. His wand was lying a few feet away from him, still glowing with the after-affects of the spell Ginny had peformed on him. Somehow, she had managed to get it out of his robes while he'd been trying to have his way with her.  
  
Crafty bitch. 


	13. A Girl worth Fighting For

Ginny lay awake in her bed almost the whole night. Her mind could not sway from what had just happened. Or more importantly - what could have happened. The thought of Draco made her shiver- his lips smothering her body, his slimy hands groping at her skin. Ginny huddled down into her bed covers, wrapping her arms around herself and pulling her legs up to her chin in the foetal position. Her sobs wracked her small body as she cried broken-heartedly. She needed comfort, she needed Harry. But the only answer to her plea was the stillness of the cold night.  
  
Over the next few days, Ginny found herself skipping important classes, meals and quidditch practises. She didn't tell Harry, instead, she isolated herself from the rest of the group and stayed away from crowds. She didn't see Draco at all during this time, and she was thankful for that. If she had, there was no knowing what she would have done to him.  
  
Harry had noticed the change in Ginny immediately. His concern for her grew deeper every minute. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew that something terrible must have happened to Ginny for her to act like this. The morning it had started, he had tried to take her into his arms and she had pulled away from him. He couldn't forget the startled, almost frightened look in her eyes. Since then, he hadn't even been able to talk to her, and she avoided him like the plague.  
  
Thinking that Ginny would talk to him in her own time, Harry waited almost a week before he found that he couldn't take it anymore. On the saturday morning, He, Ron and Hermione went down to the Great Hall early for breakfast. Ginny of course made no effort to come.  
  
"So what do you thinks actually up with her? Hermione asked Harry seriously.  
  
Ron almost coughed up his bacon. "You're the girl, Hermione, I thought you would have a better idea than Harry. Girls always chit-chat among themselves first, dunno why."  
  
Hermione looked back at Ron in a very annoyed way. "Well, you're Ginny's brother Ron, I would have at least expected you to notice that there was something the matter!"  
  
"What the hell has that got to do with it? She's Harrys girlfriend, not mine, thank God!"  
  
"Ron, I'm glad she's not your girlfriend, ok!" Harry interrupted impatiently.  
  
"Well, she's just an annoying little sister to me!"  
  
"Yes well, that doesn't help me very much though, does it? I mean, something must be seriously wrong. I can't even get close to her." Harry paused, then spoke again. "Perhaps you could talk to her Hermione, and maybe I'll hide under-"  
  
"Get real Harry, Ginny's your girlfriend so you talk to her. Hiding from her is just dishonest, anyway, how would you feel if-"  
  
"Ok, Hermione, we get the point!" Ron screwed his face up at her. Harry looked at them both.  
  
"You're right, though, Hermione. I need to speak to Ginny alone. Its gone on long enough."  
  
Harry left Ron and Hermione to finish their breakfast, then he went straight back to the Gryffindor common room. He said the password to the fat lady and entered quietly. He noticed that everyone seemed to be at breakfast, but Ginny. She was sitting on the floor by the fire, her silver cat in her lap, and she was looking blankly into the crimson coals.  
  
"Hey, Ginny, how are you feeling?" he asked tenderly. She didn't answer, or even acknowledge his presence.  
  
"Theres something that I really think we should talk about." Harry stopped and looked at Ginny, who turned her head in the opposite direction, towards the window. He began again.  
  
"At first I thought that it was something to do with us. But I think that its not that is it? Something is seriously bothering you, and I wish you would trust me enough to tell me, because I really hate seeing you like this, Ginny I -"  
  
"Nothings wrong with me. I'm alright, I'm just a little tired thats all." Ginny avoided his eyes as she aid this.  
  
"Nice try Gin," Harry moved closer to her on the worn hearth rug, "but I think that there's more to it than that. Please, tell me Gin"  
  
"OH, GOD HARRY!" Ginny got up so suddenly and yelled so loudly that Harry could have sworn Hermione and Ron could have heard her from the Great Hall. "Its my business if I don't want to tell you ok? Stop hassling me, I don't bloody need it right now!"  
  
"Calm down, Gin, I'm just worried about you because I love you. I'm not trying to hassle you or anything, I'm sorry if it came out like that." Ginny avoided Harry's eyes.  
  
"I'm fine." She answered, "theres nothing to tell." Quickly, she turned her back to him, her eyes brimming with tears. Harry's words had gotten to her. She hadn't felt loved all week, but now all her emotions were flooding back. She knew she was on the verge of sobbing uncontrollably. Finally, she broke down her own defenses and turned back to Harry.  
  
"Actually, I'm not fine." she choked out. Harry's expression grew even more concerned, and Ginny took a deep breath and began again. "Harry, I didn't want to tell you this ... because, I knew that you would get angry." Ginny's words caught in her throat and Harry reached out and touched her for the first time in over a week. His hands pulled her closer to him and he savoured the feeling of her, unresistant, in his arms at last.  
  
"The night after we won quidditch," Ginny continued hesitantly, "Draco ... Draco, tried to ... tried to ... rape me."  
  
Ginny watched Harry's expression change so suddenly, from one of worrying concern, to that of bewildered rage.  
  
"Malfoy tried to...." He struggled with the words, he had thought that everything would be fine when he and Ginny were together, how could this have happened? "Why ... how, did ... why were you out of bed?"  
  
"I had to find her, didn't I?" Ginny cried, glaring down at her cat as if it was her fault. Sheba yawned lazily and stretched herself out on the rug. "She wasn't in the dorm when I went to bed, so I went down to find her. I thought that Filch would shoot her or something, so I took your invisability cloak, so no one could see me. I felt safe, afterall we have trekked all around Hogwarts at 3:00 in the morning. But I bumped into Lucius Malfoy."  
  
Harry groaned and his stomach crawled a little. He knew very well that Lucius Malfoy was an evil man. He wouldn't put it past him to try out Ginny himself, if he had been given the chance. And he had been given the chance.  
  
"How did you get away from him?" Harry rubbed her back, trying to comfort her and control his rising anger at the same time.  
  
"Draco came. It was the only time that I felt relieved to see him. And then, Lucius pushed me so hard into Draco and just left. Then Draco made moves on me and I said that I wanted to go to bed, and then ... then ... he."  
  
"Don't think of it Ginny, just don't think of it, not now." Harry was boiling with rage, he honestly felt like killing Draco Malfoy, and that wouldn't be the first time. Lucius, on the other hand deserved death just as much as his son. Harry's mind raced back and forth, his heart pelted. He thought of Ginny, alone that night, frightened, without him being there for her. Draco would be sorry!  
  
"Its not as thought he actually ...did anything though." Ginny said softly.  
  
"That doesn't make any difference," Harry pulled away from her and shook his head, moving towards the common room, shaking with rage. His voice was low and deadly, and his rage was becomming unbearable. "I'm going to kill him for what he did to you."  
  
Before Ginny could stop him, Harry turned on his heel and stormed out. "Harry, no!" She yelled after him. But she got no answer.  
  
****  
  
Harry charged down the corridor in a blind rage, he had no idea where Draco Malfoy was but he was going to find him and bash the shit out of him when he did. He slammed into Dennis Creevey as he came trotting past him, sending him flying backwards. Harry didn't even flinch, let alone apologise. He could think of nothing but killing Malfoy. Suddenly, he spotted him up near the Entrance Hall, surrounded by those poncy sidekicks of his.  
  
"Oi! Dickhead!" Harry yelled, shoving him hard in the shoulders. "So you thought you'd try it on Ginny too, huh? Why did you bother, she's way to good for you and you know it!" He shoved him again, sending Draco stumbling backwards. He hit the wall.  
  
"You son of a Bitch! You knew that she would never want you, so you tried anyway. You disgust me!"  
  
"Fair go shithead, Weasel was begging for a good root!" Draco snarled, recovering from his fall. "That little skank asked for everything she got!" Draco shoved Harry into the opposite wall.  
  
"You're a liar, Malfoy! You know thats not true!" Harry Bellowed at him.  
  
By now a fair number of spectators had gathered, but the teachers had not shown themselves. Crabbe and Goyle looked as though they wanted to get stuck into Harry too, but Draco held them back.  
  
"No way, you prongs, he's mine! I've waited a long time to bash the shit out of Potter, I'm going to cherish it myself!"  
  
"I think I'll be the one cherishing it, Malfoy!" Harry spat. Harry hip-and- shouldered Draco, sending him into a coat of arms, which crashed to the floor.  
  
Draco laughed, which provoked Harry's rage even further. "Is that all you've got? Pathetic," he smirked, heaving himself off the ground and standing level with Harry. "But about your skanky girlfriend, To be brutally honest with you, I think you're just jealous because Ginny wasn't satisfied with your sad-arsed roots, and went to find herself a REAL man!" Draco finished triumphantly.  
  
Shrieks of laughter erupted through the crowd. The Slytherin girls, Pansy especially, thought it highly amusing. Harry was shaking with rage at what Draco had said, but suddenly caught sight of Hermione's face, which held a 'violence-won't-solve anything' look. Ron was standing next to her, but, unlike Hermione, seemed highy entertained.  
  
Harry was positively trembling with rage. He turned slowly back to face his jeering foe, but instead of hurling another biting remark at him, he threw a punch directly at Dracos head. Draco reeled backwards, falling into Crabbe on the sidelines. Draco shoved himself off and touched his bleeding nose.  
  
"You've made me bleed Potter." He narrowed his eyes in his own rage, forgetting to smirk for once. "You're gonna pay. No one touches a Malfoy," Then he made a charge at Harry, slamming him, once again into the wall. Harry felt the air leave his lungs. Draco then punched him hard in the stomach, he doubled over but recovered quickly and slammed his fist into Draco's jaw.  
  
Draco recovered from the hit and wiped the blood off his chin. He feigned a punch to Harry's stomache and upper-cut his chin instead. Harry's eyes watered in pain as he bit down on his own tounge, but he ignored the blood seeping from his mouth and took another swing at Draco, hoping to give him a black eye to wipe the constant smirk off his ugly face. His puch was stopped, dead in its tracks when a large hand caught Harry's fist, and threw it violently away.  
  
"What IS this about you TWO!??" Snape shouted. Harry's heart sank, he wouldn't get off lightly with Snape. He recovered and rubbed his jaw tenderly. He saw Draco wipe his mouth and nose, which were covered in blood. Harry didn't know what to say to Snape. The fight had gotten so out of control that he had almost forgotten what they were fighting about ... Ginny. Should he tell him?  
  
Draco tried to cover his arse as much as he could. He knew that he would be in big trouble if the truth came out. Harry only had to mention it and that was it. "I just picked a fight with Potter here ... see ... um ...." Draco tried to think very quickly, however, no words came to him.  
  
"Mr Malfoy, I think I get the picture. Both of your maturity levels need a major upgrade." Snape told them both snidely, but looking directly at Harry as he said this. Snape continued in a cool manner. "This little incident may have ended differently if it wasn't for the holidays in a week. But I'm in a generous mood. Potter, you can scrub another batch of cauldrons, since you have become so fond of them, and Draco," he spoke more softly now, "its the library for you, Mister."  
  
"WHAT!! The library? Thats it? Harry scoffed. "The library only takes half an hour, another batch of bloody cauldrons will take forever!"  
  
Snape looked at him with his cruel smirk. "So you've dusted the library before? Very good Potter! Want to do that too, do you? Do you want to know the reason for you getting the raw end of the deal? Its because YOU started the fight, Potter. I saw you. Think you're 'Mr. Special,' do you? Let me tell you something, starting deliberate fights with other students, no matter what they have done to you simply will not be tolerated!"  
  
Harry had done it, he knew that he had lost the battle.  
  
"And," Snape continued, "if the caudrons take forever, then so be it. I don't want to hear another word. Both of you will report to my office tomorrow morning at 6:00, is that clear?"  
  
Draco smirked. He knew that he had gotten off lightly. Like always. Suck shit, Harry.  
  
****  
  
"Thats was bloody brilliant, Ginny, you should have seen Malfoys face! He's a weak little whining punk! I could have sworn that he was about to cry when Harry slammed him!" Ron was beaming. Ginny couldn't help but smile a little.  
  
"Yeah, well, he deserved it, I was glad I did it." Harry answered.  
  
"As funny as it was, I still don't know what made you do it though, what made you so angry." Ron asked.  
  
Harry glanced at Ginny, the four of them were crowded around the common room fire, like they had done so many other times.  
  
"Maybe Ginny had better explain."  
  
Ginny hesitated for a moment, then spoke.  
  
"Malfoy tried to ... Rape me, Ron."  
  
Hermione put her hand to her mouth in shock, Ron stood up as though someone had challenged him to a fight. Harry squeezed his hands tightly around Ginny's small shoulder. A tear rolled down her cheek.  
  
"Oh my God, I had no idea it was anything like that. Why didn't you kill him and be done with it, Harry? Well, if you won't, I will! I'll kill him, that DOG, I'll kill him ... oh Ginny. Oh my God." Ron was stunned.  
  
"Ginny, why didn't you tell me?" Hermione asked softly.  
  
"He didn't actually ... you know, did he?" Ron asked.  
  
"No, I blasted him with his own wand before he could get any further."  
  
"And I should think so, too! Hell, I would've given him the death curse if I were you," Ron spat in disgust.  
  
"Ron, you don't even know how to do it properly." Harry told him. "You have to really mean curses like that. You have to really hate someone to do it." His eyes clouded briefly, thinking of his past experiences. "But I think I could pass there."  
  
Ron spluttered for words. "Alright, you take Draco, I'll take his twisted Father!"  
  
Harry smiled at his best friend and shook his head. "You know, it's a tempting suggestion, but we'd earn a life-sentence in Azkaban. And quite frankly, I don't particularly want to live there for the rest of my life."  
  
Ron nodded glumly. "But it would almost be worth it, wouldn't it?"  
  
Ginny smiled again, she felt a whole lot better now, and the people she loved most in the world were there for her again, and standing up for her, what's more.  
  
"Excuse me, boys, but Harry's got detention just for bashing Malfoy. You'd probably get the death penalty for killing him." Hermione stated.  
  
Harry chuckled. "Yeah that's right, I've got a detention for it, hey? Seeya six o'clock tomorrow morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed!"  
  
"Harry, what about you're cloak? Lucius took that too." Ginny spoke softly.  
  
Harry shrugged. "That doesn't matter Gin, I'll get that back before the holidays. Somehow."  
  
"Hey, did you guys know that theres going to be a special Quidditch match on thursday?" Ron suddenly piped up, changing the subject. He nudged Ginny. "You're playing too, Gin!"  
  
Hermione interrupted him. "RON, she doesn't want to know about silly little things like Quidditch! I'm sure Ginny doesn't care about that right now!"  
  
"Oh, Hermione, you don't get it, do you? Quidditch is NOT SILLY!" Ron quickly defended himself, looking rather offended.  
  
"Hermione, its ok, I feel much better thanks to you guys. I'm sure I'd love to play, it will take my mind off everything anyway."  
  
Ron took this opportunity to start yapping about the 'very special' quidditch match which was supposedly taking place next week.  
  
"So how do you know this Ron?" Hermione asked, almost suspiciously.  
  
"Saw a list on McGonagalls desk, didn't I!" Ron answered without hesitation. "Harry's on there as well, of course. Oh and me too!" Ron beamed.  
  
"Well, whats it about then?" Harry asked. Ron waited eagerly to see everyones reactions, taunting them, he quite enjoyed it.  
  
"Wait and see, I won't spoil it for you!" 


	14. Gryfflepuff and Slytherclaw

Harry had spoken to Ginny about what had happened between her and Draco the night before his detention with Snape. They talked for hours, and Harry had reassured her that as long as she was by his side, no harm would ever come to her ever again. He had left for bed feeling tired, but pleased and relieved that he had cleared the air with his girlfriend.  
  
The next day, he spent the entire morning in detention. Again. The cauldrons did take a long time too - three and a half hours, and he had had Snape breathing down his neck the whole time, which made it doubly as bad. He had prattled on and on during the detention about Harry's shocking "maturity level" and his non-existant "self discipline". Harry had refused to retalliate and had simply rolled his eyes and continued to labour on the cauldrons. When they were finally done and Harry was free to go, he had almost run back to the Gryffindor common room, eager to see Ginny. He was sooty all over and he hadn't even noticed as he ran past a sniggering Malfoy.  
  
As he entered the portrait hole and was about to go and change, he noticed a small figure sitting on the couch, silently reading. The fresh morning sunlight streamed in through the stained glass window panes and filled the room with a beautiful warm orange glow. The sun glinted off her hair as Ginny looked up from her book and smiled at him.  
  
"Harry, you're filthy!"  
  
"Yeah, well, I have been scrubbing cauldrons for the past day!" He answered with a smile.  
  
"Well, you did deserve it."  
  
"Deserve what?"  
  
"The detention."  
  
"Oh thanks for the support, Ginny. I was defending you, are there you go, jumping to Malfoy's ship ..." He grinned to show he was joking. "Nah, I probably shouldn't have bashed the shit out of him, but I was glad I did. I'd wash a million Cauldrons just to see him suffer. And it was for you, Gin, so I'm justified."  
  
"Hey, I didn't ask you to bash him up, Harry!" Ginny giggled. "You landed that detention yourself."  
  
"I couldn't give two shakes about the detention, or Malfoy, or the fact that I kicked his arse! All I care about is you." Harry sat down next to her, blackening the couch with soot. He took Ginny in his arms and kissed the top of her head.  
  
"I've missed every day that you didn't talk to me. I've missed holding you in my arms like I'm doing now." He grazed his nose gently over hers.  
  
"Why are you so good to me?" She asked softy.  
  
"Because I love you, Ginny. No one has made me feel as though I can't breathe when you are not with me, no one has soothed me with laughter like you have. All I want to do is hold you. You and no other. Forever. I swear that nothing like this will ever happen again." He hugged her even more tightly and possessively than before- like there was no tomorrow. And when he stopped and Ginny looked up at him, she could see his eyes were glazed with tears.  
  
****  
  
It was only four days until it was holidays. Harry and Ginny couldn't wait as it had been a particularly difficult term. Christmas beckoned and the snow fell lightly. This meant that Harry only had two more lessons with Snape. He was rather sick of detentions now and so he thought it best to play nice for the remainder of the term. Despite his past fun, scouring another lot of cauldrons just didn't seem to be worth it anymore.  
  
Ginny had been better since Harry had served his last detention. She was smiling again and laughing like she used to. To top off the last few days of term, Harry had also recieved letters from both Sirius and Mrs Weasley.  
  
"Looks like I'm coming to the Burrow these holidays, Gin and Ron." Harry exclaimed to his four best friends at Dinner that morning in the Great Hall. .  
  
"Yeah, Hermione's coming too," Ron said through his munched up toast. "Everyone's coming, except for Percy, of course, the arsehole. Fleur, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George ... they'll all be there for a Christmas bash, though!"  
  
"Awsome, I can't wait! Sirius won't be home in Hogsmeade for Christmas, but he said in his letter that he was going to drop in at the Burrow on Christmas Day to see us all."  
  
"Harry, thats great! Everyone together for Christmas. Could anyone ask for more?" Hermione chirped up happily.  
  
"Yep, I could ask for more," Ron answered as he piled fried eggs onto his plate. "I want to Captain our Quidditch side tomorrow."  
  
Hermione's attention turned to her boyfriend."Ron, will you stop getting your hopes up over that Quidditch Match? There are lots of great players at Hogwarts, as well as you! I just wouldn't hold out that much hope, that's all. Not with the competition you'll have."  
  
Ron glared sulkily at her. "Thanks Hermione. Thanks so bloody much! I'm glad to see my girlfriend has such confidence in me!"  
  
****  
  
That afternoon, the alternate Quidditch Match was scheduled. Both Harry and Ginny and of course Ron were playing, as Ron had 'accidently' peeked at the players list on McGonagalls desk last week. Harry had particularly made note that Malfoy would definately be playing, therefore, Harry could look forward to watching someone else knock him off his poncy new broom, the Fleetwood Zap. That really would top off the last term.  
  
This match was slightly different. It was the Gryfflepuffs against the Slytherclaws. A combined match, specially for Christmas. Nine players in each team (Hufflepuff and Gryffindor and Slytherin and Ravenclaw) Hermione could not play Quidditch and so she would be left alone to watch her best friends play instead. It was a brilliant idea, Harry admitted, although the downside to this was that no points would be awarded. It was purely for fun, as an end of term Christmas treat.  
  
Everyone was now on their way to the Great Hall where Dumbledore would explain the rules to the game. Ron would simply not stop his chatter. "I've heard that there's still only one Captain for each team. That means I have to get it! I mean, how pathetic's McGuire and Norkin!?"  
  
"How do you know they're even Captaincy candidates?" Hermione asked. Ron gave her a sad look."Oh, thats right, you cheated and looked at the list." She answered.  
  
"Its not cheating!"  
  
"Ron, I'm sure you'll get the Captaincy," Harry reassured him. "Its no big deal anyway." he murmered, although secretly, he thought that Terrence Bently, an excellent beater from Hufflepuff, may get it.  
  
Ginny put her arms around him as they walked down the stone steps and into the Great Hall. Many students had now gatherered to their House tables and the entrance was flooded with excited students laughing and yelling and chattering.  
  
The four of them took a seat at the Gryffindor table and waited for the other students to file in. It was then that Harry noticed Cho. She walked past him and didn't smile. Her dark eyes penetrated his. Harry could see her gaze travel to Ginny, but she didn't screw her face up in disgust, nor smile. Her expression looked rather stony towards the both of them. Cho was the Seeker for Ravenclaw. Surely she would be chosen for this match too - her, or Malfoy - or maybe both? Harry was really beginning to become edgy. Seeing as the Teams were combined, did that mean that there would be double the amount of players?  
  
"If I can have your attention for a moment." Dumbledore's settling voice immediantly hushed everyone in the Hall, and brought Harry's thoughts back to the present. "I would like to take thie opportunity to congratulate everyone on an excellent semester of work. You have all done exceedingly well. Professor Snape also tells me that the number of detentions has declined dramatically, which is encouraging."  
  
"Not with me it hasn't!" Harry whispered to Ginny. She bit her lip and shook with laughter. "Yeah, well, I've had my fair share too!"  
  
"Now is the moment that you have all been waiting for." Dumbledore spoke again. "The teams are of course Gryfflepuff, which is a composed of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and Slytherclaw, which is composed of Ravenclaw and Slytherin."  
  
Professor McGonagall stood up then and spoke. "The new robes for this match will look like this." She clapped her hands together and two students came out of the side door, modelling the new Quidditch robes. Parvati and Malfoy walked out smugly in new the Quidditch robes. Harry would have felt like cheering along with everyone else, if it weren't for Malfoys bloody annoying smirk and the thought of how close he had come to his Ginny.  
  
The robes were stunning, he had to admit. Parvati wore the Gryfflepuff robes - a bright gold colour with a crimson banding around the hoods and front. Two small house shields were embroidered onto each side of the top button holes. The Slytherclaw robes were a lighter green, with a blue banding. It too, had both the Ravenclaw and Slytherin house shields displayed on the breast.  
  
"As you have all been informed of the special Quidditch Match this afternoon, it is my duty to tell you all how this match will be played. As you know, no points will be awarded to the winners, but a trophy will be presented to the winning team. There will be nine players in each team and these players have already been chosen." Ron glanced at Harry sneakily.  
  
"When I call your name, please come forward and Professor Dumbledore will present you with your new robes, which you will be able to keep." Cheers rose from the crowd of students at once.  
  
"We will start with Slytherclaw Team first. The Seekers are Draco Malfoy and Cho Chang." Draco, still thinking that he was pretty special because he was already up the front looking like a male Supermodel smirked knowingling to himself. He already had his robes on. That made him better than everyone else, apparently. Cho got to her feet and accepted her new robes from Dumbledore just as McGonagall read the next two from the long parchment.  
  
"Beaters, Magda Morgan and Rodney Reynolds." Two studenst got up, to cheers from the Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Harry knew that Rodney was a good Ravenclaw Beater and that Magda was a Slytherin. No one dared go near her, she was that tough.  
  
"Now the Chasers are Jed Gangrin, Secunda Phillips and Silas Spindle." They all got up at the same time and ran to the front like a mob of try-hards, the Slytherins especially cheering them on as if they were Gladiators.  
  
"And last of al for the Slytherclaws: the Keepers are Nigel Cleaveland and Geraldine Isaacs." As they both made their way up the front someone yelled out from the crowd. "Go get'em Cleaver!" Nigel raised both his hands as if to say 'thankyou, thankyou, I know I'm rather special!"  
  
"I think that will be enough." McGonagall spoke once more in a slightly stern way "Now we have the Gryfflepuff Team. The Seekers are Harry Potter and Susan Bones." Cheers went up for Harry and he hated all the attention. He slowly made his way to the front of the Great Hall and accepted his new robes from Dumbledore.  
  
Soon enough, Godrey McGuire and Terrence Bently (two third years) had joined the Gryfflepuff team as Beaters and had taken their place next to Harry. Cheers erupted for Ron, who was announced as a Chaser. He walked proudly out along with his fellow Chasers, Mandy Ricketts and Colin Creavey. As Ron had said, Ginny was called, along with Billy Norkin as the Keepers.  
  
"As you can see, the rules have changed slightly, so please listen carefully." McGonnagal began again over the cheers of the Students at the tables. "Many of you maybe wondering why there are two seekers on both teams." Many students nodded. "There will be three Snitches released for this game. This means that a team will have to retrieve two of these snitches to end the game. Each snitch is worth seventy five points, so when two are caught, this will equal the usual one hundred and fifty points in a normal game. It is also my duty now to name the Captains for each team."  
  
Ron began to fidget nervously. He had been waiting for this moment for the past week. Who would be captain? Harry was certain that Draco would get it for Slytherclaw, as he was a better player than Cho. Harry however didn't know who it would be for their team. Maybe he didn't want to know. But they would both have to wait a moment longer.  
  
"Draco Malfoy for Slytherclaw and Harry Potter for Gryfflepuff." A huge roar went up and Harrys heart missed a beat. He didn't want to be Captain! He didn't need any more attention. Ron could have it all! He turned to Ron, ready to tell him they had made a mistake, but he was glaring at him jealously, and turned his face away from him sulkily.  
  
Draco strolled to the front and collected his badge, making a big show of pinning it onto his robes in front of the whole school. Then he raised his hands above his head like a triumphant warrior and the Slytherins erupted again into cheers. Harry, slowly and reluctantly, walked out to collect his badge. He gave Dumbledore a weak smile as he took his badge and went back to stand beside his team. Ron looked devastated, although Ginny looked pleased.  
  
"You now have just over two hours to prepare for the match. Use this time wisely," Dumbledore announced to them.  
  
Everyone began to file out of the Great Hall, still yelling and cheering, maybe even more excited than when they went in - if that was possible. Slytherin and Ravenclaw thought that they were going to win of course, and had suddenly buddied up against Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. They yelled things such as "What a bunch of whimpy losers" at them as they walked out the Great Hall, pointing and laughing at them. And Harry had thought the Ravenclaws were a decent House. He shook his head when he saw Cho laughing amongst them and walked off up to the Common Room with Ginny and Hermione. Ron was charging ahead of them fuming. Suddenly, he turned back to them, almost knocking Ginny over.  
  
"I can't believe that I didn't get the captaincy!" he yelled at them. Students giggled as they milled around him.  
  
"I told you not to get your hopes up didn't I, Ron?" Hermione said reasoningly. " And I'm sure Harry doesn't feel that great when you say things like that. He IS after all, your Captain, Ron." Hermione spoke sternly.  
  
"I didn't want it Ron. You're welcome to it." Harry replied.  
  
Ron sighed, his anger draining. "No, you deserve it Harry, I couldn't take that away from you. I'm just disappointed thats all, I'll get over it."  
  
"We're gonna win anyway." Ginny reassured them.  
  
"Yeah, we will. Are you nervous?" Harry squeezed her hand.  
  
"Yeah. You?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Really? You who never gets nervous before a Quidditch Match anymore?!"  
  
"I'm nervous this time. Really nervous. Especially as Captain."  
  
"You'll do fine, Beautiful. You always do." 


	15. Snitching and Bitching

Harry and Ginny changed quickly into their robes. Harry helped plait her hair, although Ginny had to re-do it five minutes later. The gold robes looked fantastic, and Harry almost wished that they played in those robes all the time, although the bright red across the chest seemed to clash with Ginny's hair a little. However, this didn't stop her from looking like a total hornbag.  
  
Ginny pulled her Quidditch gloves on, smiling at Harry as he battled with his lacings. "You know, that gold really suits you, Harry. My robes are a little big, though," she said, pulling at the slightly baggy fabric.  
  
Harry looked up at her and smiled. "You look amazing, Ginny. So amazing that I think I'll have to kiss you." He leant in to kiss her, but Ginny pulled away.  
  
"God, I'm so nevous!"  
  
"Don't be," Harry answered, trying to catch her lips with his. His mouth caught hers and he grazed his lips over it gently. She calmed down a little and smiled.  
  
"Do you remember the last time we played Quidditch?" She asked slyly, grinning meaningfully.  
  
"Yes, we won didn't we?" Harry answered stupidly.  
  
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I wasn't talking about our win, Harry."  
  
"Oh, right."  
  
"NOT LONG NOW, EVERYONE! THE TEAMS ARE ALMOST READY!" Dean's rather loud voice echoed around the pitch and brought Harry and Ginny back to reality.  
  
"I guess that's us! Time to kick Slytherclaw's arses," Harry grinned evilly.  
  
Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Harry, don't you dare do anything stupid."  
  
Harry glanced back at her with a look of utmost innocence. "Me? Do anything stupid? As if!" He smirked as he watched Ginny's expression turn to one of disapproval.  
  
"I'm serious, Harry. Don't go beating up Malfoy this time. I want you in one piece for the holidays."  
  
Harry smiled and ruffled her hair. "Gin, I'm kidding! I won't even touch Malfoy. Why would I want to do that anyway?"  
  
****  
  
"Ok, folks, I haven't much time, so I'll get staright to the point," Harry spoke quickly in the waiting room, giving everyone the low-down Captaincy speech. "Cho Chang and Malfoy will both be very aggressive, so watch them closely at every given chance. Godrey, try to belt them off their brooms whenever you get the chance, ok?" He nodded at Godrey and turned to the other Beater, Terrence. "Ok Terry, I want you to watch for Madga. She's tough as hell. I want you to try and control her as best you can. Godrey, you can just go for the Seekers the whole time. We'll all try our best to protect ourselves from the Bludgers on our own. Ron, Mandy, Colin-" Harry turned to them "-You guys are seriously great, just get as much of the quaffle as possible and don't stop for anything, then we shouldn't go wrong." Harry turned back to face the rest of his team, who were all fidgeting nervously. "I'm guessing that it will be rough out there, so be careful. Susan and I will both try to catch a snitch and that should be that. So if our talented keepers-" he winked at Ginny, "-defend us to the death, we should cream the Ravenclaw and Slytherin losers in less than twenty minutes. Now, guys, move out! Let's WIN!"  
  
They all yelled "GO GRYFFLEPUFF"! and walked in the direction of the Gryfflepuff pitch entrance. Harry was glad that his talk had sparked confidence in his team, although he knew that this game was never going to be easy.  
  
****  
  
"And here they are everyone, the all-new Gryfflepuffs and Slytherclaws!" Dean bellowed excitedly into the megaphone. "They look absolutely bloody fantastic - if, of course, I'm allowed to say so Professor?" Dean had managed to score the commentary again this time. Which was surprising as he was very nearly banned in the last match "As you know," Dean continued, "this is a combined team game. It will not be counted for points, which is pretty dumb, but the winning team will get a gold trophy as a special prize." Dean stopped and looked down at the pitch.  
  
"Right, Ladies and Gentlemen, Madame Hooch has just signalled, the players are about to come out. Give the Slytherclaws a hand. Here they come now- Malfoy, Chang, Morgan, Reynolds, Gangrin, Phillips, Spindle, Cleveland and Isaacs." The Slytherclaws raced out exceedingly fast and in turn, showed a great sucession of complicated twists and turns.  
  
"Show-offs" muttered Dean in the commentary box. "Ok, you've had your fun, Slytherclaws, now get off the pitch! Its Gryfflepuffs turn to show how bloody fantastic they are!"  
  
"Have you quite finished, Dean?" McGonagall barked.  
  
Dean, bravely ignoring her, continued. "And here they come, the golden Gryfflepuffs! And don't they look spiffing?? This legendary team is lead by none other than Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, Quidditch extraordinaire, top bloke full-stop. If you ask me, Gryfflepuff have this game already in the bag! Oh, yeah, the other members are Bones, Maguire, Bently, Weasley senior, Ricketts, Creevey, Weasley junior and Norkin. Good luck guys!" Dean then proceeded to dog bark and cheer loudly into the megaphone. Professor McGonagall threw her hands up in the air in despair.  
  
"Alright, Madame Hooche is in the centre now. One, two, three ... The quaffle's in the air, the snitch is released. The game begins!"  
  
Harry cold hear Dean on the commentry a mile away and he smiled. Dean was great. It pleased him that he was a loyal Gryffindor supported and he was not afraid to let this slightly biased view shine through in his running commentry. Harry, of course, had his eyes peeled for the snitch. Three snitches were released for this game and Harry had to keep reminding himself this. As easy as it may have sounded, it seemed down right confusing now.  
  
All of a sudden Rodney Reynolds came straight for him and took a swipe. Harry dodged out of the way just in time and spun quickly around on his broom. He looked back to see Reynolds smirking like a pig.  
  
"Back off, asshole!" Ron shrieked at him. He turned to Harry. "Are you ok Mate?"  
  
"Ron, you don't have to run for my defence, I can look after myself!" Harry replied. "Quick, we need you at the other end!"  
  
Ron looked back in horror, as Slytherclaw scored the first goal of the game. "Shit!" he yelled, speeding up to the other Chasers.  
  
"The first goal goes to Slytherclaw, they now lead the match ten- zero." Dean said, although he was not too enthusiastic about that.  
  
"Stuff them!" Ron yelled to Mandy and Colin. "Stuff the lot of them! They're not getting anymore goals if I can help it!" And with that, Ron was off.  
  
"Play resumes again, and this time it's Weasley with the quaffle! Yes! He then passes it to Ricketts, WOW, She almost got swiped by Reynolds too! Shit, Reynold's is a spastic! NO! NO! Nuh, still good, Weasley's got the quaffle again - yes, great pass there - SCORE! Gryfflepuff have caught up! Even scores! That'll show them!" Dean yelled.  
  
And it didn't stop there. As Ron said, Slytherclaw hardly got a look in. with the help of Mandy and Colin, the three of them piled on another fifty points, and Slytherclaw only scored once. The score now stood at sixty to twenty, Gryfflepuff's way.  
  
Harry circled higher and higher. He felt the wind pick up, hinting at another storm. Maybe not for another half an hour or so, which should give him time to catch at least one snitch. He couldn't bear to see what would happen if Malfoy caught both and won the game for Slytherclaw.  
  
He turned to the left and at the same time, caught a glimmer of gold. Immediately, he tore after it, narrowly missing Morgan who turned around and swore loudly at him. He didn't care, he knew that if his team caught the first snitch, they would have a huge advantage.  
  
The snitch ducked in and out of the stands, Harry almost had it when it took a sudden nose dive and veered to the right. Guess who was there to catch it? Harrys heart sank. Absolutely fantastic. Malfoy had the first snitch. Harry could have kicked himself, if it was at all possible on a broom.  
  
"Looking for something, Potter?" Draco jeered, waving the snitch in front of him. Harry didn't answer. "Your stunned silence is very reassuring. At least you can't call me a cheat this time." Harry sneered sarcastically at him and flew in the opposite direction.  
  
"Malfoy's caught the first snitch for Slytherclaw!" Dean yelled. "Bugger! Slytherclaw lead on 95 points, to Gryfflepuff's 60. Dammit, that first Snitch was Potter's! Godrey, knock that bastard off his poncy broom, would you?? Ok ok, I'm shutting up, Professor!" (McGonagall was glaring warningly at him).  
  
"You haven't won yet, Malfoy," Ginny snapped at Draco from where she was defending the Slytherin Hoops.  
  
"As good as done, I should expect," Draco answered in a cocky voice. "So, Ginny. How have you been keeping lately, my dear?" he mocked.  
  
"None of your damn business."  
  
"Ginny, but it is my business. I look out for you, you know that."  
  
Ginny scoffed sarcastically. "Look out for me? Is that what you and your father call it?"  
  
"Maybe," he said softly, smirking at her. "You know it was downright rude of you to walk out on our little ... engagement the other night. I for one- " Draco didn't finish his sentence. Ginny lunged at him, and her broom hit Draco squarely in the side of the head.  
  
"F**k me!" Draco yelled, nearly toppling off his broom.  
  
"And it looks as though Weasley's given Malfoy a bloody big headache! Good going, Gin! I must say, if I were Draco, I would have kept my yap shut. Ginny Weasley is rather infamous for her temper. I would know, I used to date her, and I -"  
  
"Dean!"  
  
"-think I'd better stop there, because I'm getting quite a few glares from various members of the Gryfflepuff team, including Ginny's current boyfriend, Harry Potter himself. Only joking, mate. Didn't mean a word of it!" Then he added in an undertone "Well, sort of."  
  
Draco rubbed his head, glaring at the smirking redhead. "Bitch," he muttered, itching to slap that infuriating smirk off her pretty little face. He sneered and took off, away from her. Ginny smiled in satisfaction and went back to keeping.  
  
"It looks as if Miss Weasley is not going to recieve a penalty for her behaviour after all! I wouldn't have given her one either, Malfoy asks for everything he gets." Dean took a deep breath and continued as play resumed. "Ok, Creevey has the Quaffle now. God, he's flying flat out. Bugger me, he's going to hit Morgan. Get out the way, you little freak! Nuh, dammit, he's hit her. They're out of it. No goals this time - wait! Weasley's picked up the falling Quaffle and is flying full bore at the Gryfflepuff goals. Come on Weasley! Get it in the hoop! He aims, he throws - it's passed Issacs - yes, keep going, Cleveland'll never get there in time! It's going, going - YES! Weasley scores! Another goal for Gryfflepuff!"  
  
Harry whooped and cheered as Ron gave Mandy a high-five and the Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's went wild in the crowd. Colin and Magda were leviated to the ground as they fell, unconcious. Malfoy started fake clicking with an imaginary camera, pretending to take photographs of Colin as he fell, and smirking along with Rodney and Secunda.  
  
"Ok, here's a score update. Gryfflepuff are steadily catching Slytherclaw, even if Malfoy fluked in catching the first snitch. Gryfflepuff are currently on 70 points behind Slytherclaw with 95."  
  
"Harry!" Susan yelled from beneath him, "we need a snitch!"  
  
"Yes, yes, I know," Harry said impatiently. "Susan, you take the left side of the Pitch. I'll take the right. We're bound to find at least one of them." With that, he flew to the right of the Pitch and began searching.  
  
"So, Harry, how's Ginny?" Harry froze. he knew that voice. It was Cho's. Why was everyone turning the Quidditch field into some sort of social gathering?  
  
"Fine," he stated shortly, without turning around to look at her.  
  
"Why haven't you been talking to me anymore, Harry?"  
  
Harry did turn around this time, with a dusgusted look on his face. "Why do you think, Cho? What sort of normal person hangs around with a Malfoy? And it was sort of hard to talk to you, what with you smirking and bitching every time I saw you."  
  
"I can't help it. I'm jealous of Ginny," Cho murmered.  
  
Harry regarded her slowly. "Why? You know we could never be right together."  
  
"We could have been great together, Harry. But you didn't try. You didn't put in any effort at all. If you had put in the hard yard, we would have made it. But you were never that interested, were you? I knew from the start that you were a little - shall we say - preoccupied? Tell me - did you date me just to keep your mind off Ginny?"  
  
"Uh ... no. Well, not in that sense."  
  
"Crap on."  
  
"Well, I didn't! I never liked her before I went out with you. I never thoughtI did, anyway.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean? You didn't know you liked her, but you really did? Meanwhile you tried to get in my pants?" Cho asked angrily.  
  
"I never tried to get in your pants!" Harry defended.  
  
"Close enough. You used me."  
  
"I never used you. And I never tried to get in your pants. I loved you, Cho. It's just not the same anymore. And you were never in the Gryffindor gang, with all my close friends.  
  
"Oh yeah great, your friends! So, you think that just because I never fit in with your gang, you can just leave me!"  
  
Harry sighed, "I'm gonna go now..., back to playing the game."  
  
"Oh yeah, the game! Yeah, anything to avoid me! You've done a great job of that all term, why start being nice now?"  
  
Suddenly Dean's voice echoed around the Pitch, interrupting Harry and Cho's fight. "Look's as if Potter's forgotten about Seeking in a heated discussion with his ex-girlfriend!" Dean burst out. "Wow, this is hot stuff, everyone look at Potter and Chang biting each other's heads off! The shit hath hiteth the fan."  
  
Harry turned back to Cho. "Look, Cho, just leave it. I'm obviously not worth it." With that, Harry turned and flew away from her, back to seeking. Cho sighed in resignation and flew to the other side of the Pitch.  
  
Suddenly, the crowd went wild, and Harry glanced down to see Susan advancing on one of the last two snitches. Harry kicked his broom into action and flew up right beside her for support. Malfoy came down after it from behind, but Harry pulled up short and cut him off, giving Susan a free go at the snitch. Sure enough, she caught it.  
  
"YES!!" Dean shrieked into the megaphone. "Gryfflepuff have the other Snitch! They're in the lead now, and have only one more snitch to catch before winning the game! The scores now are 145 to 95, Gryfflepuff's way!!"  
  
The cheers were deafening, as the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff crowd came alive with enthusiasm for their team. The Slytherin and Ravenclaws were doing their best to stay calm, but it was becoming increasingly difficult as the next five attempts at goal were brilliantly defended by Ginny Weasley.  
  
"Fargin' Fantastic, Miss Weasley! Now, Potter, hurry up and get the last damn Snitch so we can go and Party! Uh, only joking, Professor. Anyway, get on with it, it's bloody windy down here!"  
  
****  
  
Draco was annoyed. His team were losing, he'd been bashed in the face by Ginny-f**king-Weasley, and Cho Chang was doing shit-all as a Seeker. He swung his broom around a searched for a glimpse of gold. Nothing. He glanced to the side and saw Potter searching for it too. At least that wanker hadn't seen it. The wind was picking up now, the storm was arriving. Draco was cold, depressed, angry and tomorrow, he was going straight home for the holidays to be with his f**kwit Father. Brilliant.  
  
Suddenly, Terrence Bently came straight for him, smashing a bludger directly at him. Draco barely had the time or the distance to duck before it belted past his head. He swung back on Bently, ready to smash his bloody Beater's bat over his stupid head.  
  
"Jack off, Bently!" He yelled angrily. His attention turned to that Rickett's chick, who was screaming down the Pitch with the Quaffle under her arm. Draco rolled his eyes and swore. Instead of doing nothing, he sped down to where she was flying and flew beside her. "Give me that f**king Quaffle, you little Slurry!"  
  
"Piss of Malfoy!" Mandy yelled, ducking a bludger as she continued to fly towards the goals. "You're not even allowed to touch it!"  
  
"Yeah well," Draco snarled, catching up to her again, "I believe I have the right as Captain, since my team is doing more pathetically than your sister in bed!"  
  
Mandy stopped abruptly, and Draco had to screech to halt to stay with her. Her face was boiling with rage. Draco's face was twisted into a cruel smirk, but not for long. Mandy, holding the Quaffle in her right hand, threw it with all her might at Draco's face.  
  
"Take the f**king Quaffle then, Malfoy!" She shrieked. Draco had no time to react. The Quaffle hit him directly in the face, and he fell backwards off his broom, out cold.  
  
"Holy shit!" Dean screeched. "Mandy's actually done it! Malfoy is down, and outta here! That was superb, Mandy!! Poor old Malfoy is slowly being leviated to the - wait, forget about him, take a look at Potter! He's seen the Snitch, and is spiralling upwards towards it, closely tailed by Chang. If he catches the Snitch, Gryfflepuff will win!"  
  
Harry was reaching for the Snitch. It was just above him as he passed the stands and shot his Orbit straight up. Nothing was going to stop him, this snitch was his. The wind blew his black hair back and his golden robes billowed out behind him. Up and up he soared, towards the dark clouds. Tear- sized drops of rain hit his face, but still, Harry remained focussed. He put on a sudden burst of speed and finally felt his hand close over the cold metal of the Golden Snitch. It was slippery with rain, but he held on. It was over. They had won!  
  
"I don't believe it! Harry Potter has caught the remaining Snitch! Well, actually I do believe it, but that's beside the point. Anyway, Slytherclaw lost, Gryfflepuff have won by an amazing 125 points!! What an arse-kicking! Final scores stand at 220 Gryfflepuff, 95 Slytherclaw! Gryfflepuff win the Cup, let's go and party!!"  
  
As Harry got off his Orbit, Snitch in hand, a golden mass swarmed around him, cheering and slapping him on the back. Hermione raced over and hugged him, Ron just about bowled him over, and Ginny kissed him lightly. Billy Norkin ran over to them with a large engraved gold cup which he thrust into Harry's hands. He lifted it up and held it high for all to see. The cheers were deafening from all the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, and Ron started to cry. Ginny beamed as she held the other side of the cup, and Colin ran off to get his camera. It was now the holidays. Everyone could relax and enjoy the win. 


	16. Its beginning to feel Alot like Christma...

Harry awoke to the familiar sound of the rooster crowing. He was at the Burrow, along with the Weasleys and Hermione. It was finally the holidays, and only a few days until Christmas. The rest of the Weasley clan had arrived the night before. Bill was bunking on the couch with Fleur, and Charlie was sleeping in Fred and George's room. Percy, of course, was the only Weasley not present.  
  
Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione had come back from Hogwarts joyful and triumphant, and had taken to singing exactly that same Christmas carol all the way home to the Burrow. The Quidditch match between Gryfflepuff and Slytherclaw had been one of the best wins that Harry could remember, and now that it was Christmas, it was the best possible feeling that he could ever have!  
  
The Christmas spirit was infectious - even Mr Weasley was caught humming "We Three Kings" and Mrs Weasley was as loud and cheery as ever, clattering around the kitchen and putting mountains of wood on the fire. Harry spent the second morning helping Mr. Weasley and Bill put mis-matched multi- coloured luminous lights over every inch of the house, while Ron and Hermione were barely seen that day, as they went off alone to play "happy couples" in the bushes at the back of the Burrow.  
  
When Harry had finally finished decorating the house, he was sent to work at de-gnoming the back garden and pulling Crookshanks out of countless pinetrees around the property. Ginny had been baking cookies in the wood stove for everyone to enjoy for supper that night.  
  
The next chilly morning, Harry got up quickly, almost hitting Ron in the face with his foot as he did this. He wanted to give Ginny a kiss before the rest of the household woke up. Hurriedly, he crept down the stairs and eased the door open, gently shutting it carefully behind him. Harry glanced around at the small, dark room and saw Ginny sleeping in the bed opposite. Grinning, he took a step forward, but hadn't gotten more than a metre into the room before his foot connected with something hard and he tripped and fell with a crash and a "holy shit!" against the side of Ginnys bed.  
  
"Ow! What was that?" Someone moaned sleepily from behind. He turned (quite painfully) around, only to find Hermione sitting up in her make-shift bed, rubbing her shin.  
  
"Oh great," Harry murmured, he had totally forgotten about Hermione sleeping in Ginnys room. He turned, face red in embarassment, at the sound of laughter. Ginny was sitting up sleepily in bed, giggling in amusement. It wasn't long before a smile broke out on Hermione's face, too. Grimmacing in humiliation, Harry carefully pulled himself up onto her bed.  
  
"Did I wake you?" He asked softly, an uncontrollable grin pulling the corners of his lips up at Ginny's sleep-flushed, glowing face.  
  
"Yeah ... you did," she smiled.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ... well ...," he glanced over at Hermione, still rubbing her shin and trying to untangle her hair at the same time. "What I meant was, that ... I didn't mean to wake you two like this, I just thought I would ..."  
  
"Thought you would what...?" asked Hermione nosily, smirking slightly at Harry's speechless face.  
  
"...That I would come and wish Ginny good morning, if that's ok with you, Miss Busy-Body!" Harry was going bright red, he could literally feel his temperature rising.  
  
"And a very good morning wake-up it was too, Harry." Ginny said, kissing him on the cheek.  
  
"Oh, puh-lease. I'm getting changed!" And with that, Hermione grabbed a few pieces of clothing and slammed the door. Ginny sighed and placed her hands around Harry's neck. He was still a little embarrased by the whole situation and found it hard to look at her.  
  
"Don't worry about it. I don't mind, really."  
  
"I feel like such a dickhead though, I mean, first I almost knock out your brother getting out of bed, and then I almost kill his girlfriend, and I didn't even give you the proper holiday wake up call that I wanted to give you!"  
  
"Harry, you didn't listen to me, I said that I didn't mind, its sweet what you wanted to do, honestly!"  
  
Harry shook his head. "Yeah, you won't mind, but what if it gets out that I was sneaking into the 'Girls Room'? It looks a bit suspicious, don't you think? Me, creeping into your room with a shitty excuse of 'just saying good morning' to the both of you! I don't think so! I'm gonna look like such a pervert."  
  
"I don't see it as a big deal. Anyway, then we can tell everyone that we are, in fact going out."  
  
"What? You haven't told anyone about us yet?" Harry asked incredulously, turning around to face her.  
  
Ginny shrugged. "Have you?" She turned and looked out the dim window.  
  
"No, I haven't told anyone either, so the only people who do know about us are Ron and Hermione. But then, no one is meant to know about them either, and everyone does, so what's the big deal? Oh, and I bet Hermione hasn't gone to get changed at all anyway."  
  
Harry gazed at her blankly. "Hasn't gone to get changed?"  
  
Ginny laughed onto his shoulder. "She's gone to see ... you know, 'someone.'"  
  
Harry's expression didn't change. "Someone?" he asked stupidly.  
  
Ginny's grin faded when she realised she was the only one getting the joke. "Harry, you dumbass, you left your room, and now Ron's all alone, so where do you think Hermiones gone then? To pull Crookshanks down from another pinetree? Yeah right. I bet we could catch them at it right now!" Ginny smirked, a devilish grin playing on the corners of her mouth.  
  
Harry grinned, finally catching on, and then started to laugh. "That would be a sight! ... But I certainly wouldn't want them to walk in on us, so I think we'll leave them to it, hey? Plus I can think of better things to be doing than perving on them." He kissed her fully on the lips and pressed his weight onto her body. She answered him back with a tender kiss, but wriggled free of him and sat up quickly.  
  
"I'm starving, let's go down and have brekkie!" she giggled, knowing full well that it would annoy Harry, and ran down the stairs before Harry had even registered.  
  
"Harry, Mum's done tomatoes, sausages and crispy bacon for Breakfast! What a feast, come and get some before bloody Fred and George flog it all! Oi, piss off, you two! Leave some for me and Harry!" Ron was screeching, tearing down the stairs after Fred and George as they galloped past him, whooping with laughter.  
  
Harry glanced up nonchalantly "Oh ... yeah ... ok, I'll be there in a minute ... " He reached for his clothes just as Ron came back into the room.  
  
"Bloody arseholes," he growled moodily. "But I made Mum promise me that she wouldn't put any food on the table until everyones there." Ron glanced at his best friend. "Hurry up, would you, Harry."  
  
"Yeah yeah," Harry mumbled, "I think I'll get my clothes on first though."  
  
Ron shrugged. "Don't worry about it, Mate, everyone wears their jarmies to the breakfast table in this house!" He grinned. "Well I am, anyway!"  
  
Harry looked down at what Ron was wearing. Green boxers with pink hippogriffs on them. He smirked. "Where on earth did you get those beauties from, Ron?" His voice on the brink of uncontrollable laughter.  
  
Ron blushed. "Hermione gave them to me for my birthday." He choked in embarassment. "Shut up, Harry!" He grabbed a stuffed bear of Ginny's and threw it at Harry's laughing face. "Next time I won't make Mum wait for you, loser." Harry looked up and grinned at him, before they made their way out to breakfast in their bedclothes.  
  
"A merry morning to you all!" Mrs Weasley yelled over the noise in the kitchen. "Now Ginny, dear, you sit there - Fred, George, will you leave the armchairs alone!"  
  
Fred and George leviated the chairs back down and sat at the table, sniggering at each other.  
  
"Now is everyone here? Good!" Mrs Weasley called once more as Harry took an empty chair next to his girlfriend and Ron took a seat next to Hermione, who turned and lay her head on his broad shoulder. Ginny caught Harry's eye and smirked into her cup of hot chocolate. Mrs Weasley then proceeded to dump large baking dishes of fried bacon, pancakes, scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes, fried eggs and onion, hot buttered toast and kippers. "Tuck in everyone!"  
  
Immediately, a million hands, or so it seemed, shot out and grabbed the many tongs scattered around the table and hurriedly filled their plates with glorously fatty food.  
  
"Oh you are such a goot cook, Missus Weesley" Fleur chipped in, as she took another pancake. Mrs Weasley looked up in surprised. "Why, thank you Fleur, but this is not my cooking today, this is Arthurs, he volunteered this morning."  
  
"Dad what?" Fred cut in.  
  
"Seriously Mum, if Dad did this breakfast, theres no way I'm touching it." George stated as he removed a half eaten tomato from his mouth and placed it back on the food tray, to everyone's disgust.  
  
"Don't be silly, you two! You both know that your father can cook!" Mrs Weasley scolded, taking the half-eaten tomato from the tray and slopping it back onto George's plate.  
  
"Only just!" Sniggered Ron.  
  
"Ok, ok, its not actually that bad." Charlie piped in reasoningly, before adding snidely. "What went wrong?"  
  
Everyone cracked up, laughing hard into their platefuls of Mr Weasley's cooking.  
  
"I'm hurting, boys." Mr Weasley spoke up mournfully. "I'm hurting deep inside, and I don't hurt easily," he sighed.  
  
Harry glanced up to see if he was serious, but caught the humoured twinkle in his eye, just before everyone else saw it and laughed again, along with Mr Weasley this time.  
  
"Nice one, Dad!" Fred laughed, slapping him on the back. "Great acting! Now we know where we get it from!"  
  
"Just eat your breakfast!" Mrs Weasley snapped at them.  
  
"Lots to do today, everyone, so lets see all this food eaten up, you'll need all your energy!" Mr Weasley piped up as he finished laughing. "Christmas eve tomorrow!"  
  
****  
  
It was night, the day before Christmas Eve. Everyone was very excited, but none more than Ginny, she just wouldn't sit still. With an expression of delight, she eagerly pinned up everyones' stockings and stood there decorating the mantle piece for at least half an hour. And then, of course, Fred and George came into the living room.  
  
"Hey Gin, you'd better put those stockings up a bit higher or they'll snagg on good 'ole Father Christmas's undies and get lost forever down his bumcrack!" Hooted Fred and he gave George a high five. Ginny's smile faded and she began to redden at the ears. She turned slowly to face them, her eyes slitted dangerously. Harry shifted uncomfortably where he was seated on his chair.  
  
"Yeah, and I don't know about you, but I won't want my stocking back after that!" George laughed to Fred, before turning back to Ginny. "You, on the other hand, Gin, would kiss Santa's arse if it meant getting an extra present, you suck up. Gee, it's a pity old Santa's a load of bullcrap, isn't it, Frederick?"  
  
Ginny was livid. "Shut the hell up, you immature pair of knobheads!" She screamed. Mrs Weasleys head snapped up at her tone.  
  
"Ginny, you know not to use that sort of language, you sound like a common prostitute!"  
  
Ginny's angry expression turned to that of rage when she turned back from her mother to her brothers to find them pissing themselves with laughter behind her.  
  
"You hear that Ginny?" George yelped, "you're a common prostitute!" He and Fred slapped each other another high five.  
  
"I did not say that she WAS one, as you both know, just that her language just got a little overboard just now." Mrs Weasley corrected him.  
  
Fred wiped away tears of laughter. "Sure, sure - same thing Mum. Anyway, we all know that Ginny's always been a common little pros-"  
  
WHACK!  
  
"Ow, F**k me!" Fred exclaimed loudly, grabbing his nose. "F**k me that hurt!" Ginnys knuckles stung a little from her punch, but it was well worth it to see Fred suffer.  
  
Harry, who had been trying to hide behind one of Hermione's books, burst out laughing at the sight of Fred holding his nose.  
  
"Mum, did you see that?" Cried Fred, "the little bitch just walloped me!"  
  
"She's not a bitch." Harry defended, getting out of his chair and coming to stand by Ginnys side.  
  
"Like a bet, Harry, you don't know her like I do. Besides, she punched me!" Fred was really more angry about the lack of attention than his bleeding nose. "I mean, look what she Friggin did to me, for Christs sake!"  
  
"Fred!" Mrs Weasley scolded. "She only did what she did, because you downgraded her. Yes, Ginny's actions where wrong, but you know better. And I do not appreciate that sort of language, thankyou, young man!"  
  
"Oh, I get it!" Fred cried, "its all my fault! Ginny's the one who resorts to violence and you're the one who called her a friggin' whore, but all the time it's been MY fault. Oh, I see its so bleeding obvious now, isn't it?! Fred bellowed angrily.  
  
Ron was the first to laugh, then Bill started to chuckle. Fleur, of course began her giggling in a soft, feminine way, and Mr Weasley laughed into his newspaper. Hermione bit her lip, but couldn't resist a laugh when she saw the look on Fred's face. Soon everyone was laughing, even Mrs Weasley. Even George couldn't contain a snicker. And then it was Fred's turn, he laughed so much that his sides hurt and he almost felt like rolling around on the floor and getting the attention that he was deprived off for his bleeding nose. However, he rafrained from such a childish action.  
  
The giggling finally died down when Fred told them all to shut up, that the joke was over and that he was going to watch the telly. But Harry and Ginny were nowhere to be seen.  
  
Ginny and Harry both ran to her room and quickly shut the door. No one would even miss them, not with the pulava downstairs. Locking the door, Ginny turned to face Harry, who immediately met her lips with his own with equal enthusiasm and she was pushed back against her door. Harrys hands were already at the waistband of her jeans as they continued to explore each others mouths passionately. It had been a while, afterall.  
  
Ginny's fingers were tangled in his damp hair and the air in her body left her again as Harry pushed her harder against the door.  
  
KNOCK KNOCK!  
  
"Ginny, are you there? Its almost time for Christmas Carols on the T.V. Come on, I'll go and find Harry." Ron yelled through the door.  
  
Ginny and Harry had stiffened in fear at the knock on her bedroom door, and now they collapsed into each other , both put out that they had been interrupted. Ginny pushed Harry off herself and opened the door gently. "Damn." She whispered softly, her breathing slowing to normality. Harry laughed breathlessly. "Yeah, damns the word!" 


	17. Together and Alone

Christmas Eve dawned crisp and dark, the sun was late to rise and everyone was late in getting up, not willing to brave the chill. Ron soon made it known early that everyone was to travel to Diagon Alley that day and woke everyone (including Bill and Fleur, who were caught in a rather awkward position), yelling and banging on doors until Geroge took it upon himself to murder him with his pillow. It was apparently a Weasely traditon to leave everything to the last minute and so, with breakfast dishes not yet done and beds not made, everyone dressed and hurried to the fire place.  
  
"Oh God, not flu powder," Harry joked to Ron, remembering his first attempt at reaching Diagon Alley by Flu Powder in his second year.  
  
However, their travel to Diagon Alley through people's fireplaces turned out quite uneventful. Diagon Alley looked incredible, Christmas trees decorated every shop entrance, miles of tinsel and winking Christmas lights hung from street lights and signs, magical shiny baubles were suspended in mid-air above shopper's heads, and brightly coloured banners trailed down to the ground in dancing spirals. There were also wizards dressed up as Wise Men handing out free candy-canes and Christmas treats, and Shepards selling pet lambs with tinsel collars.  
  
At once, everyone split up. Mrs Weasley tried desperately for the first few minutes to keep tabs on where everyone was going, but Fred and George had already bolted, Bill and Fleur had snuck off ten minutes prior, and Charlie had run off to meet some mates at the Leaky Cauldron. Sighing in a 'what can you do' way, Mrs Weasley turned to Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione. "Oh go on then, off you go too!"  
  
"Let's go!" Ron yelled at them all and pulled them down the street and into Flourish and Blotts. However, he turned around a second later and blocked Hermione's entrance. "Um, I'm sort of going in here to get your pressie, hun, so you might not want to come in just yet." Sighing in annoyance, Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Nice to know what I'm getting, Ron." Ron just laughed and ran into the bookstore. He came out a few minutes later with a suspiciously book-shaped object hidden beneath his robes and a secretive look on his face.  
  
The next stop was the jewellers, where Harry purchased Ginny's present, and then they all headed off in different directions to do their seperate shopping. At around lunch time, they met up again at Florean Fortescue's for icecream. Harry hadn't said much during the entire morning. He was still a little too caught up with all the colourful christmas lights and decorations to take much notice of anything else. However, that was about to change as a very familiar, yet slightly unwelcome voice rang out across the street.  
  
"Harry!" Everyone turned around to see who it was, but Harry already knew. With a slightly nervous expression, he slowly turned to face his ex- girlfriend. She was hurrying, beaming at him, across the road. Harry's eyebrows shot up. Since when were ex-girlfriends happy to see ex- boyfriends?  
  
"I never would have guesed it was you, Harry! You, here, at Christmas time!" She was grinning happily at him. Harry briefly had time to notice that she had Michael Corner standing a few feet away, before she was talking excitedly again.  
  
"So, how've you been, Harry?"  
  
Harry turned to face her again, not really sure of what to say. "Um... fine, I guess. Cool, I 'spose, " he winced at himself. Pathetic. "You?"  
  
"Yeah, great," she beamed, before turning to wave at Ron, Hermione and Ginny. "Hi everyone!"  
  
Ginny gave a vague, bemused smile in return, while Ron and Hermione just looked at each other in confusion.  
  
"I see you're with Michael Corner," Harry said awkwardly.  
  
Cho beamed again. "Yeah. He's staying with me for Christmas. We're dating"  
  
"Oh, right," Harry answered slowly. "Lucky Michael, I guess."  
  
"Thanks, Harry," Cho grinned at him warmly. "Hey, don't you love Diagon Alley at Christmas time?" she asked him quickly, looking around at all the decadence.  
  
Harry finally gave a natural smile and answered truthfully. "Yeah, it looks incredible. I've never seen Diagon Alley in the Festive Season before. I'm very impressed."  
  
"Me too, and I've been here during Christmas heaps of times. It just keeps getting better, I think," she answered happily. "Would you like to have a tour? I know my way around here like the back of my hand..."  
  
Without a word, Ginny gave Hermione and Ron meaningful looks and left the table, to wander quite aimlessly down the street. She wasn't going to stick around to hear what Cho had to say. She knew that Harry was loyal to her and only her, but she just couldn't stop running endless negative possibilities and outcomes of Cho and Harry even being near each other through her mind. She couldn't stop thinking of the circumstances of their breakup and what should or could happen now.  
  
I'm paranoid, she thought to herself as she absent-mindedly picked up a crystal bauble. I'm just being stupid now. Glancing up, she saw a pair of small figurine Angels, beautifully decorated in white and red, sitting in a shop window. Their tiny, painted little faces intriqued her, and their small white dove-feathered wings slowly folded and unfolded around their pretty white dresses. Ginny couldn't help but wonder ruefully if it would be her or Cho getting something as beautiful for a Christmas present.  
  
Her hands were cold and she rubbed them together as she looked across the alley, noticing with a sigh that Harry was indeed still talking to Cho, as they walked around together, pointing particular Christmas decorations out to each other. Ginny grimaced ruefully, turned to face the way she was walking, and was promptly knocked over by an impatient shopper. Ginny groaned to herself. Diagon Alley had been busy enough before, but she could swear it had gotten busier. She glanced up from where she sat awkwardly on the pavement as cold white snow tickled her face, falling gently from above. Shoppers milled about her as she pulled herself up off the freezing street and brushed her clothing free of snow.  
  
She could barely see Harry conversing warmly with Cho now, as the amount of snow and shoppers increased around her. Wiping her face of the cold white powder sticking to her eyelashes, Ginny turned around but walked straight into a black-clad chest. Strong hands reached out to steady her as she stumbled, and she looked up into the gaze of Draco Malfoy. She reeled back in horror, terrified he would say something, terrified of his hands on her arms, bringing back those awful memories. "Get off me," she shrieked at him, yanking herself out of his grasp, breathing hard in fright.  
  
However, with not one word, or even a smirk, he pulled his hands away and brushed past her. Eyes wide with shock, Ginny watched him walk, without the normal arrogant swagger, down the street away from her. "Malfoy?" she called out to him, frowning in confusion. What was wrong with him? She could visibly see his shoulder muscles tense at the sound of his name, but he didn't stop walking, or even turn around to acknowledge her.  
  
Ginny trotted curiously after him, perplexed at his attitude. She caught up with him and stopped, several feet away for caution's sake, in front of his black-clad, rather imposing figure. "What's wrong with you?" she asked him, panting slightly. Draco glanced once at her confused face, and then continued straight past her.  
  
Ginny gave a short, disbelieving laugh. "What, no abuse?" she turned around, calling after him. "No verbal bashings?" she laughed scornfully at his retreating figure, bullying him in his newly-acquired sombreness.  
  
Draco glanced back at her as he walked, and in that instant, Ginny froze. Snow fell in a heavily falling swirl around him, seperating them in a sheet of freezing white. His face was etched with pain. His eyes were cold, but not with the usual arrogant surliness. They seemed desperate and lost, somehow, and very, very, haunted. Dark smudges stained the skin beneath his eyes, and his cheeks were hollowed and deathly white. A gasp parted Ginny's lips, and then Draco turned slowly away from her and strode off, disappearing into the drifting snowfall.  
  
Ginny stood still, staring at the place where Draco had disappeared. Her palms were cold and clammy. She was confused, so confused, and felt torn between following him and leaving him alone, as he seemed to want her to do. However, that look he'd given her... that lost, alone look... as if he couldn't handle anymore...  
  
"Ginny! There you are!" a voice yelled behind her. Ginny didn't turn around, but continued to gaze into the empty space where Draco had been. "I'm starving, let's get something to eat," Harry told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her up the street. Not quite knowing why, Ginny quickly snatched her hand away from him. Harry turned back to her, a bemused expression on his face.  
  
"What's up with you?" he asked her, a little irritably.  
  
Ginny shook her head. "I just saw Draco..." she said softly, still in the midst of her own thoughts.  
  
Harry's expression darkened immediately. "What did he do to you?" he growled dangerously.  
  
Ginny frowned to herself, ignoring Harry's reaction. "He seemed... very different... upset."  
  
Harry scoffed. "What, he didn't try to crack onto you this time, is that what's different?"  
  
"No," Ginny snapped at him. "He barely knew I was there, actually. He seemed lost."  
  
"Well," Harry said snidely. "That's probably because he doesn't have any friends."  
  
Ginny sighed tiredly and, with one last, troubled glance in Draco's direction, she turned around to make her way back up to Ron and Hermione, leaving Harry standing, utterly bewildered, in the middle of the street.  
  
Everyone was exhausted when they finally reached the comfort of the Burrow. Even Fred and George were quiet, which was rare indeed for them. Christmas Eve night was cold and stormy. Snow swirled around the house, causing the joints to creak and the trees to groan. The Christmas Lights Mr Weasley had set up around the house glittered in the snow, and in the living room of the Burrow, the fireplace glowed red and warm. Mrs Weasley, Hermione and Ginny made big steaming mugs of hot chocolate for everyone, while Mr Weasley sat down to read the Christmas Story outloud to anyone who would listen.  
  
It wasn't long before everyone called it a night and went upstairs to bed. Ginny sat beside the fireplace, fiddling with a bit of tinsel. Harry sat on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling with his feet up and his hands behind his head. A thoughtful expression marred his features, his eyes narrow and his mouth set in a grim line.  
  
"So..." he began softly. "How was your day, then?"  
  
Ginny didn't turn around to face him. "It was ok. How was your day?"  
  
"Alright, I guess," Harry replied, an unnatural calm in his voice. "Although I can't say I had your full attention for most of it."  
  
Ginny tensed. She knew he was going to start sooner or later. "I can't say I had yours for most of it, either."  
  
Harry broke eye contact with the ceiling and swung around on the couch to face her. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked her stonily.  
  
Ginny shrugged. "Well, I couldn't exactly help but notice your animated conversation with Cho."  
  
Harry laughed softly. "We were just catching up, Ginny."  
  
"Bit of a change since last time's abuse flinging, don't you think?"  
  
"Ginny, she never "threw abuse" at me, she was just a little hurt by what we did to her."  
  
"By what we did to her?" Ginny shook her head, but refused to look at him. "All we did was fall in love."  
  
"Still, we didn't take her into much regard, did we? And you never even once gave a thought to her while we were having sex, did you?"  
  
This time, Ginny did turn around, and glared at him angrily. "You're making this sound like my fault. Like I dragged you into my bed or something. Forced you away from her."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not implying that at all. I'm just saying, in the wake of our 'passionate love affair', we didn't give one shit about those who were heart-broken because of it."  
  
Ginny turned back around and threw her bit of tinsel into the fire, watching it sizzle with narrowed eyes. "Well, it doesn't matter now, does it? And Cho doesn't seem to be too hurt about it anymore, I noticed."  
  
"How would you know, Ginny? You ticked off a quarter of the way through the conversation and went to comfort Malfoy," Harry said disgustedly.  
  
Ginny spun angrily around. "Don't you DARE bring Malfoy into this!"  
  
"Why not?" Harry growled at her. "He's the other half of this bitch-fight we're having. You can't blame EVERYTHING on Cho!"  
  
"No, poor old dear, darling Cho, always getting the thin end of the stick!" Ginny snapped at him.  
  
"Ginny, you're completely jealous of her, aren't you? You're worried I'm going to go back to her, and leave you used and abused, right?"  
  
"Well, why not?" Ginny snarled at him. "You did it to her with me, it's not exactly out of the question to think it could happen around the other way!"  
  
"And what's not to say that YOU wouldn't do the same thing with MALFOY?"  
  
Ginny gave him an incredulous look. "And why the FARG would I do something like that?"  
  
"I can see that concern you have for him," Harry sneered at her. "It's etched all over your face. You've been obsessing about him all evening. Him and that look he gave you."  
  
"He looked upset, I wouldn't be a human not to be concerned!"  
  
"Concerned for your would-be rapist's upset, Ginny?" Harry cried at her, leaping off the couch. "You, best of all, know what he almost did to you! Why this sudden compassion for such a fked up, rapist dickhead?"  
  
Ginny, angry as a wild cat, leapt up to meet him. "You don't know the half of it, Harry!"  
  
"I know that you wouldn't talk to me for a week after he tried to rape you, that's how frigging upset you were! And WHO comforted you in that time? I did! And this is how you repay me? You may as well throw all that I did for you back in my face!"  
  
"Harry, you're being stupid now-"  
  
"You never said 'thankyou' to me after that. And now I see, in the absence of that 'thankyou', a growing compassion for the dickhead who started it! How could you just go forgetting about all that, Ginny?" He put on a fake, whiny voice, obviously mocking her. "Oh, no, Malfoy looked upset, so let's rush to his side and help him, shall we? Screw Harry, he may have helped me get through it and all, but screw him anyway!" Harry sneered sarcastically at her.  
  
Ginny shook her head at him, her eyes narrowed furiously. "I'd almost forgotten what a prick you could be, Harry," she spat at him.  
  
"Oh, thanks for that, Ginny, thanks SO much," Harry snarled at her. "I'm only trying to knock some sense into that thick head of yours! STOP defending Malfoy. He doesn't deserve it from you. What he did to you should have stopped you from ever thinking kindly about him for good!"  
  
"Harry, I'm not thinking kindly about him!" Ginny cried out in frustration. "You didn't see the look on his face, I did. He wasn't the old, dickhead Malfoy that tried to rape me and abused you, not in that instance. He seemed so different."  
  
"What, different in the space of a few weeks, I don't think so," Harry said bitingly in frustrated anger.  
  
Ginny closed her eyes, praying for some restraint. "Harry, don't you believe that people can change? For the good?"  
  
Harry gave her a disgusted look. "I find this really off," he hissed. "It's like you've forgiven Malfoy for what he did to you, just because he looked at you funny. And in answer to your question, no, I don't think someone as screwed as Malfoy could ever change. He's incapable of it."  
  
Ginny stepped past Harry and went to get herself a drink of water. "I'm beginning to think you are, too."  
  
Harry followed her, glaring at her angrily. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"I think you know," Ginny said impatiently as she took a sip of water.  
  
"I don't think I do," Harry spat at her. "You'll have to fill me in."  
  
Ginny sighed and turned her eyes to his. "Harry, you're just so set in your ways. It's as if you like having Malfoy for your enemy. Someone you have an excuse to hate because he hates you back. You refuse to give him a second go."  
  
Harry leant back against the sink. "It depends how far that second go is," he replied tightly. "I wouldn't invite him to bed and give him a kiss like you seem so willing to do, put it like that."  
  
Ginny's fists clenched by her sides. She felt the hurt of his words strike a deep infliction to her heart, but refused to show it. "I'm sick of this, Harry," she sighed wearily, and made off to the stairs.  
  
Harry gave her an incredulous look. "What, no abuse this time?" he cried out in disbelief, echoing the words Ginny had called jeeringly, bullying, at Draco only hours before. "No punch to the face, no kick in the nuts?"  
  
Ginny turned around slowly, giving him a very irritated look. "No, Harry, not this time, because unlike you, I have maturity, and I don't run around bashing people up willy-nilly."  
  
"Ooh hoo, ouch" Harry sniggered sarcastically. "For your big fat information, Ginny Weasley, I only bashed Draco up for you. So don't you go getting on your high horse."  
  
"I never asked you to bash him."  
  
"You seemed pretty pleased about it at the time," Harry argued back.  
  
"Back then, Harry, I was still dealing with everything. But, unlike you, I've learnt from it all, and I've moved on. It's really a pity I can't say the same for you, Harry. You, the great "Boy who Lived", would still prefer to lock jaws with old enemies instead of sorting things out and growing up."  
  
There was a sudden, ominous silence between them. Neither of them moved, and Ginny could hear Harry breathing harshly from where he stood by the sink. She knew she'd gone too far saying that. She held her breath, waiting for the tirade to begin.  
  
"Go to bed," he said suddenly.  
  
Ginny bit her lip awkwardly, not sure what to say or do, but still too angry to apologise to him. "I do still love you, Harry, this fight hasn't changed tha-"  
  
"Go to bed," he snapped again, his voice tight and cold. Ginny fiddled with the wooden balustrade nervously, watching his dark silhouette against the window. His head turned towards her.  
  
"I said, go to bed," he hissed at her. "I don't have anything more to say."  
  
"Harry," Ginny began softly. "I don't want us to hate each other on Christmas Day."  
  
"You should have thought of that before you started the fight," he growled.  
  
"Oh, I started the fight, did I?" Ginny snapped at him, her hackles rising again.  
  
"Go to bed," Harry snapped at her for the fourth time.  
  
Ginny shook her head, overtly pissed with him all over again. "Ok, Harry, get all sooky, pretend it was all my fault, tell yourself that you're perfect and I'm just a victimising bitch. But I'll tell you this, due to everything you said to me, I have a hell of a lot better reason to be sulking than you do."  
  
There was silence again for a few seconds, as they stared at one another through the darkness between them. "Get lost, Ginny. And you said you were mature," Harry said coldly.  
  
Ginny sneered at him then, and took a few steps up the stairs. "Moreso than you, you sulking little boy." And with that, she took the rest of the steps running, hurried into her room and slammed the door shut behind her. Just to make sure that Harry knew for sure that he was in the shit, she grabbed her bedroom key from the cupboard and locked the door. No sex for you, Potter, she thought grimly, but triumphantly, to herself. 


	18. Forgive is a word I am Learning

Christmas morning dawned bright and chilly. Snowflakes were frosted onto the windows so that no one could see outside until Mr Weasley hopped out with his slippers on to chip some ice off them.  
  
Ginny groaned and turned over in her bed when Hermione shook her shoulder gently. "Come on, wake up, Gin. You're meant to be excited about Christmas, remember?"  
  
Ginny moaned again into her pillow. "Yeah, that was before last night, Hermione," she murmered in a muffled voice.  
  
"What happened last night?" Hermione asked her as she pulled a thick woollen sweater over her head. Ginny threw the covers over her head.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Doesn't sound like nothing. You and Harry have a fight? I thought I heard you come in last night in a bad mood. And you locked the door, too. I couldn't get out last night."  
  
Ginny turned to face her with the bedcovers up around her chin. "I didn't want him coming in this morning giving me a big "Merry Christmas" kiss and pretending everything was fine," she mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes.  
  
Hermione stopped looking around for the key and looked at Ginny. "Gin, if Harry was in as bad a mood as you were, he wouldn't have come in to give you a morning kiss. I would know, I've seen how sulky and angry Harry can get."  
  
Ginny laughed dryly. "Yeah, no kidding," she croaked, and leant over to get her glass of water from the bedside table.  
  
"So, you guys aren't on good terms then, I take it."  
  
Ginny smiled humourlessly. "I read a very definite 'no' on that."  
  
Hermione gave her a grim look. "Well, that sucks a fair bit. On Christmas and all."  
  
"Yeah, well, I didn't ask him for a fight late on Christmas Eve. Although he thinks I did," she said in annoyance.  
  
Hermione stepped over her mattress on the floor and sat down on Ginny's bed next to her. "Gin, it's Christmas. Can't you and Harry at least try to sort things out a little? For the sake of the family?"  
  
"Yeah but, Hermione," Ginny said in frustration, sitting up in her bed. "Harry's so immature. I doubt he'll even try to be friendly. He'll probably just sit in the corner sulking," she said bitterly.  
  
Hermione gave her a small shrug, but didn't say anything. She patted Ginny on the shoulder and then stood up. "Well, I'm off to breakfast. Coming?"  
  
Ginny slowly got up from her warm bed, groaning uncomfortably as the cold air prickled her bare skin. "Yes, I'm coming," she mumbled as she quickly pulled on some clothing and grabbed the key to the bedroom door from her cupboard.  
  
"There it was," Hermione muttered to herself quietly, Ginny opened the door in silence and they both made their way down to the kitchen.  
  
Music was blaring when they opened the door. "We Three Kings", an old Christmas Carol, was magically booming around the room, aided by Mr and Mrs Weasley singing merrily along with it by the kitchen stove. Everyone was down already, and Ginny scanned the room for a sign of Harry. He was sitting, slouched over at the kitchen table, drumming his hand on the wood absent-mindedly.  
  
Hermione gave Ginny a typical meaningful look before heading off to wish Ron a Merry Christmas. Edgily, Ginny made her way to the table and sat down opposite Harry. He glanced once at her, then went back to concentrating on his rhythmic tapping.  
  
Ginny didn't say anything to him. Instead, she took that time to look around the room at everyone. Ron was over in the corner playing Chess with Charlie and Hermione was now bossily intervening their play saying neither of them knew what they were doing. Bill and Fleur were on the couch, talking in hushed tones and kissing every now and then. Fred and George were running around the kitchen screaming "We Three Kings" out of tune, obviously mocking their parents, who didn't seem to care anyway. She smiled to herself, settling back down in her seat. However, that smile faded when she saw Harry gazing quite hostily at her.  
  
However, before either of them could say anything, Fred and George shouted in Unison "Everyone's up, present time!"  
  
Everyone rushed to the presents under the beautifully decorated Christmas tree, and Ginny followed a little less enthusiastically. Harry came after her and sat moodily on the edge of the couch.  
  
"Hey, I bet this one's yours, Ron!" Fred was yelling at Ron, waving a small gold parcel in front of his face. "It's tiny!"  
  
Ron rolled his eyes at him. "Hey, I bet yours doesn't even exist, loser," he retorted. Fred's smirk was quickly wiped of his face as he dived back into the pile of presents to prove him wrong.  
  
"I can't find any of mine from Mum and Dad," George announced sulkily. "I bet they thought it'd be really bloody funny to leave me and Fred out this year. Really nice of them," he grouched, pulling off a bit of tinsel from the tree.  
  
"Of course we got you two presents," Mrs Weasley scolded George. "We wouldn't leave you out."  
  
"It's been known to happen before," George pouted.  
  
"Nah, wait a minute, it's ok, George," came Fred's muffled voice from under the Christmas tree. "We have a sighting. Repeat, we HAVE a sighting." He emerged from beneath the tree with two rather large brightly-wrapped packages. "Mum and dad just thought it'd be a bit funny to hide them at the bottom, didn't you cherubs?" He grinned charmingly at them, before George grabbed his present from him and they ran off somewhere to open them.  
  
Ginny recieved her presents and opened them one by one. She was quick to notice, with some degree of hurt, that Harry hadn't given her one. She had given him one, but by the looks of it, he hadn't even come to collect it from under the tree. He was still sitting on the couch, his shoulder muscles tense with pent-up anger. She knew they'd be in for a long day ahead of them.  
  
Mrs Weasley came up to Harry with a large parcel for him, and placed it on his lap. "There you are, Harry dear, from all of us with love." Harry glanced down at it and gave Mrs Weasley a faint smile. "Thanks for that, Mrs Weasley," he mumbled quietly. Mrs Weasley was quick to pick up his tone, but she didn't press the point, and hurried off to make sure everyone had gotten their presents and weren't opening anyone else's (Fred and George had been caught moments before trying to run off with Mr Weasley's).  
  
Harry opened the present to find a years supply of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, and a State of the Art broomstick polish which, apparently, was meant to add leverage to the broom.  
  
Suddenly, a silver velvet bag was dropped at his feet. "It's from Sirius," Ron grinned at him, before heading back off to find his own presents. Harry picked it up. It was relatively heavy, and felt like a curtain hanging or something of the like. It was wrapped in a sparkling silver bag held together by a crimson cord drawstring. A note was tied to it, which read:  
  
Merry Christmas, Harry!  
  
Just a short note to wish you a great day. I'll be at the Burrow later on around lunchtime, but I thought you'd appreciate a present more in the morning when everyone else was opening theirs. I hope you enjoy it. It can be very useful, when you know of the right places to use it.  
  
I heard about your Quidditch Match win. Congratulations again! I wish I could have been there to see you catch that last snitch. Dumbledore seemed pretty thrilled about it, although he told that he'd never seen a more violent match in his life! You'll have to fill me in on those interesting details when I get there. In the meantime, have fun with the present, and I hope everything's going fine with Ginny.  
  
Love Sirius.  
  
Harry frowned to himself. "Yeah, real bloody fine with Ginny," he grumbled to himself. Harry looked down at the bag and pulled the drawstring open. He pulled whatever it was inside out and shook it out. It seemed very similar to an invisibility cloak, only it had a multitude of stars arranged artistically on the hem and hood. The material was very thin, Harry could see through it when he put it up to the light, but it seemed to radiate a warmth when he touched it. Harry also found that the cloak had other 'abilities.' It could shrink to a very small size, expand, change colour, camouflage the wearer, and act as a noise barrier. Harry couldn't help but smile slightly to himself. It really was a great present.  
  
Preparations for Christmas Dinner started almost immediately, and Ginny was glad to help, as it gave her an excuse to stay away from Harry mooching sulkily on the couch. Ron was watching the Christmas carol repeats on television. Fred and George had nicked off outside to throw snowballs at Bill and Fleur's bedroom window, and Charlie was deep in conversation with his father over the latest cock-up of Fudge's at the Ministry of Magic.  
  
Hermione came to sit next to Harry on the couch, curling her legs up beneath her and opening her new book from Ron. Harry glanced at her from where she sat, and she looked up at him. She regarded him for a few seconds before she spoke.  
  
"What's happpened between you and Ginny?" she asked him quite suddenly. Harry sighed out loud. He wasn't in the mood to explain the details of their bitch-fight the night before.  
  
"I don't want to talk about it," he told her coolly. "And I'd sort of rather be alone," he added pointedly.  
  
Hermione glanced up from her book. "Well, this is a couch for two, so go sit on a couch for one if you want to be alone."  
  
Harry clenched his jaw tensely. "Hermione, you don't get it, do you? I'm not in the mood for anyone right now."  
  
Hermione closed her book with a snap and placed it on her lap. Turning to Harry with a forced smile, she said calmly, "Harry, as far as I knew, The living room isn't a hide-out for snooty boyfriends to sulk about how unfair their life is. I talked to Ginny before and it really doesn't seem as if she's the one in the wrong here. YOU'RE the one who needs to start talking, not her. YOU'RE the one being the arsehole."  
  
Harry didn't answer her. Instead, he stared angrily ahead of him, his jaw set at rigid angle, and his eyes boring unseeingly into the fireplace. He knew Hermione was right. Ginny wouldn't come grovelling to him, it was his fault in the first place, he would have to be the one doing the grovelling if he wanted their relationship back on track. And Ginny didn't deserve it. Even if she did, it was no excuse for his awful behaviour towards her. Sighing at himself, he turned back to Hermione. She had opened her book up again and was pretending to read. He could tell she wasn't, though, her eyes were set in the one place on her page, and her teeth were worrying her bottom lip in obvious irritation. Swallowing his pride, he leant back on couch and said to her softly, "Sorry, Hermione."  
  
Immediately, her eyes softened, and she looked up at him over her book. "I'm glad," she said to him. "You really ought to be. To Ginny especially." Her eyes flickered to where Ginny was working with Mrs Weasley at the kitchen bench. Harry's eyes followed hers, and he knew what he had to do.  
  
"I'll... I'll go and apologise, then..."  
  
Hermione nodded approvingly, then turned, smiling, back to her book. Nervously, Harry turned back to face the fire for a few seconds. He was quite worried she'd throw it back in his face and tell him their relationship was over. He didn't want it to be, but he couldn't exactly blame her if she wanted it to be. He picked at the tassles on the cushion and tapped his fingers along the upholstery on the couch. Finally, he stood up and stretched his lean frame, turning around to face Ginny.  
  
However, she was no longer beside the kitchen bench. Indeed, she was no longer even in the room. His eyes scanned around, but she was certainly gone. He walked slowly up to Mrs Weasley and asked her softly, "Uh, Mrs Weasley, where's Ginny, please?"  
  
She turned around and smiled knowingly at him. "She went outside a few minutes ago. Probably off up to the pine trees. She likes it there," she said almost to herself, and turned back to her work.  
  
Harry turned and grabbed the robe he had recieved from Sirius off the couch and headed out the door.  
  
The robe provided Harry with the most wonderful warmth. Outside was sunny, but bitterly cold, the snow which had fallen the night before was extremely deep and the sun reflected off it, hurting his eyes. Harry quickly made his way down the back garden path and followed it to the bottom of the garden. He opened the small gate and made his way up into the thick pines.  
  
He couldn't see Ginny at all, as the pine trees were planted in such a way that they were in rows which were set out along the hills. Harry continued along a row and called out to her, but no one answered and he guessed that she was deeper in the woods than he had first thought.  
  
It was then that he spotted her, as he came to the top of the hill and looked down, he could see a small figure sitting on a fallen log, her back up against a tree, her face looking up into the grey sky.  
  
"Ginny. I think I need to speak with you." He said as he walked up to her, extremely nervous. After all, what if she just told him to piss off and never come back?  
  
Ginny didn't move at all, she didn't even acknowledge his presence. Harry felt like an idiot, simply standing there, lost for words.  
  
"Look, I know I've been an bit of an arsehole." He stammered. "Well ... A lot of an arsehole. I'm sorry I stuffed up our Christmas and I'm sorry I ever overreacted about Malfoy." Ginny still didn't say anything.  
  
"Look, I can understand if you're still angry with me. I mean ... I'm angry at myself. But don't hold it against me forever. You don't usually hold grudges, Ginny."  
  
He watched her closely for any sign of acknowledgment. Finally, she sighed slowly and opened her eyes. "Yeah, I know, Harry." She answered him quietly. She sighed as she got to her feet and looked at him. "I'm not going to pretend that I did nothing wrong, either ... I mean, I said some nasty things too, and I'm sorry for that, but ... Harry, you were awful to me, you said some things which really hurt me alot."  
  
Harry bit his lip nervously. "I know. And I'm really really sorry. Do you know how much I regret everything that I said? Although I have to wonder why you were so concerned with Draco, I did find that hard to take."  
  
"You were jealous over nothing, Harry. I told you that."  
  
"Yes, I know, I was jealous and I still am jealous. I'm jealous of anyone who would even look at you. You are mine, I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, ever."  
  
Ginny sighed again in exasperation, rolling her eyes. "See, thats what I can't stand, Harry. I need my space, I need to know that you won't go and punch someone up just for 'looking at me funny' or saying something that you don't like. I can look after myself most of the time. I do love you as well, but it would be easier for both of us if you would just learn to trust me and calm down a little."  
  
Harry nodded silently. He looked like a 5 year old who'd just been told off by his mother, and he nervously fidgetted with his robe and looked down at the pine needle littered ground. For a moment he didn't say anything, then he spoke quietly.  
  
"I can do that if you wish."  
  
"What?" Ginny asked softly.  
  
"I can lay off a bit, well, at least I can try to. If thats what you want."  
  
Ginny looked up at him, surprised at how willing he was to sort things out between them. She knew that he was genuinely sorry for what he'd said, and so was she. Sorry that she'd even seen Malfoy the day before.  
  
"I'd like that, Harry," she smiled softly at him, and reached out to take his hands in both of hers. He closed the space between them and crouched down in front of her, his fingers gripped tightly around hers. His eyes held all the love he felt for her, and Ginny couldn't help but soften under his gaze. Slowly, so slowly, he moved forward, his eyes closing as his parted lips touched hers for a brief moment. He didn't go any further, instead, he pulled back and watched her eyes for any sign of opposal. However, when there was none, he reached forward again and kissed her a little more forceably.  
  
Their kiss deepened as he pushed her back slowly into the trunk of the tree. The rough bark scraped against her back harshly, but she didn't tell Harry to stop. It had been weeks since they'd been so close, she didn't want it to end now.  
  
"I love you," Harry moaned against her mouth, his hands finding their way up her woollen sweater and beneath her bra to her breasts. His fingertips traced unbearably gentle patterns around her nipple, and she shivered in pleasure.  
  
"I know," Ginny whispered in return, her hands now back behind her, gripping the tree for support. "I love you too," she groaned as Harry hooked his fingers beneath the waistband of her cord trousers and slid them down, careful to keep his body covering hers so as to keep her warm. He reached over her head and pulled her sweater off, his lips moving down to her bared nipple and licking it slowly, recieving a gasp in return. Shaking with want, he pulled off his jeans and boxers, sliding off Ginny's moist knickers and bending her knees apart.  
  
He took her arms in his hands and gently pulled her from the uncomfortably rough bark of the tree and laid her to the ground. Leaning over over her shuddering form, his lips slid along her throat as he ground his hips against hers, searching for her opening. Not wasting any time, he pushed himself hard into her, and he felt her gasp at the sudden intense contact. Ginny flung her head from side to side, torn between pleasure and pain. Harry was hurting her, but he was also pleasuring her, and she didn't want him to stop doing either.  
  
He ground his hips against hers, and she bucked against him in instant response. Their tongues clashed together as she reached to pull him closer. His hands were everywhere, stroking her, curling through her hair, sliding intimately down her thigh. He was panting, his teeth grazing at her lips. Ginny groaned as their hips moved together rhythmically, her eyes closing as she savoured the feel of Harry so intensly close. She drew her fingers up his back, scratching deeply into his skin and drawing his blood beneath her fingernails. She could feel Harry tense with the pain of it, and smiled beneath her heated exterior, as her vision began to spin with her climax.  
  
Suddenly, with a final, shuddering cry, Harry's muscles siezed up in orgasm, as his hands gripped painfully tight to Ginny's hair and arm, and he slumped against her with a shaking sigh. Ginny followed him a second later, her cry echoing through the pine forest, and frightening a small flock of sparrows into the air.  
  
Harry and Ginny lay together, clammy with sweat and shaking in each other's arms. They were exhausted, and could barely move. Harry reached out and pulled Sirius's cloak over them, insulating their quickly cooling bodies against the harsh cold of the icy air. Harry moved to lie beside her so as not to crush her with his weight, and wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling his head into the nape of her neck, and pulling her close to him.  
  
"I love you so much," he told her sleepily, as his fingertips traced lazy patterns on the skin of her shoulders. "I'd die without you."  
  
Ginny smiled gently, reaching over her shoulder to take his hand. "No you wouldn't," she murmered to him quietly. "You wouldn't die. But you'll never forget me, or our time together," she turned to face him, smiling softly.  
  
But Harry didn't smile. He didn't think it was a joke. "I know I won't," he answered softly, kissing her warm lips and sitting up to lean on his elbows. "I think I'll always love you," he told her seriously, looking around at the sighing pines. "I'll never be able to get away from you. You're my soulmate." He stared above him to the grey clouds, slowly trailing snow through the treetops. He turned back to her, and smiled reassuringly, as if he only just remembered then that he'd been talking out loud.  
  
Ginny shook her head gently, a faint smile on her face as she watched him lay back down. She was up on her elbow with the cloak covering her, and she stared out into the steadily falling snow outside the forest boundary. She was warm and secure in the forest, here with Harry. She felt happy, and safe, something she hadn't felt for quite a long time. She glanced down at Harry, who was laying back on the forest floor, staring up into the cloudy sky again. She lay back against him, her arms tightening across his chest.  
  
"You're right, Harry," she said finally. "We're soulmates." 


	19. A Sense of Home

Harry and Ginny walked for an hour amongst the pine forest. They felt closer to each other than perhaps they had ever felt before. When they reached the beginning of the garden path, the wonderful aroma of Christmas dinner wafted down the chill breeze to them, reminding them of how hungry they were after their rather "rigorous" activity an hour before.  
  
"So," Ginny smiled, turning to face Harry with her hands clasped in his. "Ready to go in and face everyone?"  
  
Harry grinned sofly. "I feel I could face anyone right now, Gin," he answered tenderly. They both walked together the rest of the way up the garden path, to the door which was prompty thrown open by Hermione. She had a knowing smile on her face as she eyed them and their clasped hands watchfully.  
  
"Looks like you two sorted it out, then," she grinned to herself.  
  
"Sure did," Harry answered her with a smug smile of his own. Ginny rolled her eyes good-naturedly at him, then turned to Hermione.  
  
"Where's Ron? I haven't seen him much at all this morning."  
  
Hermione's smile broadened. "Lord knows where he is at the moment. He was last seen chasing Fred and George down the drive-way, after he'd had enough of having their snowballs ditched at him through the kitchen window."  
  
Ginny snorted with laughter. "Are they going to be back in time for lunch?"  
  
Hermione shrugged non-concernedly. "They might be. But if Ron catches them, they might NOT be."  
  
Harry glanced out the window. "Looks like they're coming back now. But none of them look very happy..."  
  
Sure enough, Ron, Fred and George came tramping grumpily through the kitchen door, wet with snow and wearing very grouchy expressions. Harry let out a very ill-concealed choke of laughter. "What happened to you?" he asked Ron jovially.  
  
"Thanks for the help, Harry," Ron glared at him as he pulled his boots off, not bothering to answer the immediate question.  
  
"I was indisposed at the time," Harry blushed to himself, catching Ginny's twinkling, laughing eyes.  
  
"Cool," Ron answered vaguely, obviously having just smelt Christmas Dinner. "Well I'm starving. I could eat a horse and frighten the rider," he shouted as he made his way into the kitchen and sat down at the table, laden with candles and a rich red table cloth.  
  
Mrs Weasley was still sieving the gravy when Mr Weasley came in the door with a huge beanie hung over his eyes. He tripped over the cat and almost managed to knock a baking dish off the bench before Mrs Weasley came to the rescue and pulled the beanie quickly off his head. Hermione, Harry and Ginny could only laugh to each other and Ron was under the table in fits of laughter.  
  
"Lunch is ready, everyone!" Yelled Mr Weasley, "Harry, Ginny, go and get Fleur and Bill would you please?"  
  
When everyone was properly seated around the long table, after a long debacle of actually getting everyone there, Mr and Mrs Weasley brought out the trays and baking dishes of Christmas turkey and roast vegetables.  
  
Harry and Ginny sat at the far end of the table next to each other. Ron and Hermione sat to the left of them. Harry looked at the enormous spread of food which was layed out before them. Now he was no cook to say the least, but Harry thought that there was enough food there to feed well over forty people. Not that cold turkey and bubble and squeak were a bad leftover, it was just the fact that it would take them weeks to finish that much food.  
  
However, Harry found himself entirely wrong when the entire family simply dove into the food at an alarming rate. Mrs Weasley was trying to yell "mind your manners!" but she was soon drowned out amongst the excited chatter and clanging of various utensils. Harry served Ginny first, then himself. Ron, who was trying to reach rudely over the other side of the table, had piled his plate so high that Hermione, whose head was actually out of her book, looked at him in disgust and, like always, had to comment about it.  
  
"Ron, I'm sure that the food's not going to disappear," she said, revolted. "You're being really piggish. I can't even see your plate anymore!"  
  
"Yeah, Ron," called out George from the other side of the table. "You don't see US piling our plates that high, do you??" Both twins, of course, had plates piled every bit as high as Rons'. In fact, Freds' seemed a little bigger and some of his roasted pumpkin was on a bit of a lean out to the right. Everyone, including Mr Weasley, gawked at them with looks of half amusement, half disgust.  
  
Harry kept squeezing Ginnys' hand under the table, throughout the entire dinner and at one point their touching of each other would have looked extremely obvious, had it not been for Bill and Fleur, who certainly didn't care that other people were watching them. Rather off-putting when people were eating and they were soon told by both Mr and Mrs Weasley that they could do that sort of behaviour when they were away from the kitchen table!  
  
Harry had never tasted anything so wonderful as the Christmas Dinner in his entire life. Mrs Weasley had baked an amazing dinner which was branded with a homely flavour, and despite Harry's prediction on the amount of food left over, there seemed to be only one small tray of baked potatoes and one of parsnips, a smidgen of turkey and the crumbs off the Christmas pudding left over.  
  
As it turned out, Harry and Ginny were landed with the dishes. It was not as bad as it sounded, and Harry found it quite fun using his magic for the first time. The only miss-hap the both of them had was when Harry accidently dropped an old jug onto the floor. Directly after that, a wooshing sound came through the front door. Harry knew that sound and he knew who it was.  
  
Sirius Black appeared at the front door, shaggy and messy as ever. He quickly brushed his dark hair out of his face and immediately looked in Harry's direction, his twinkling brown eyes meeting with Harry's green ones. Sirius lay his broomstick down and everyone who was left in the kitchen rushed up to meet him. Those that had since departed, ran in from outside immediately.  
  
"Merry Christmas Guys!!" Sirius yelled.  
  
"MERRY CHRISTMAS SIRIUS!!" Everyone cried ten times louder. Sirius, who was still trying to tame the hair out of his face, handed out small presents to everyone. He would smile everytime someone gave out a yell of joy at the gift that they recieved, and then he would tell that person of what that particular gift would do, or where he found it.  
  
He finally came to Harry, who had just dumped the last load of clean dishes into the cupboard, everyone else had suddenly left the kitchen and gone outside to enjoy the rare sunshine, leaving Harry and Sirius alone.  
  
"Thanks for the present, Sirius, it's awesome," he grinned at him.  
  
"You liked it? I thought you would," Sirius smiled lazily and leaned back against the sink. "Used it yet?"  
  
Harry glanced up at him quickly, a hot flush blooming on his cheeks from the memories Sirius's innocent question conjured up. "Uh, yeah - just before actually," he answered quickly, glancing around to make doubly sure no-one else was present in the room to overhear their conversation.  
  
Sirius caught the flush spreading across Harry's cheeks and grinned at him knowlingly. "Oh, I see," he smiled, his eyes flashing mischeviously. "Good to see my present's being put to good use". Harry blushed harder at the obvious innuendo as Sirius proceded to laugh his head off.  
  
"Shut up," he muttered, turning back to fiddle with a recently-washed mug.  
  
Sirius sniggered. "Bit of a hit with the ladies then, hey Harry?"  
  
Harry almost dropped the mug he had taken to tapping absent-mindedly. "No!"  
  
"Contrary to what I've heard," he grinned again, seeming to be quite delighted with himself. Harry gave him a punch in the arm and walked across the living room to the Christmas tree. He pulled out a wrapped parcel and threw it at Sirius.  
  
"Amuse yourself with that," he told him dryly, before adding, "oh, yeah, and Merry Christmas, to you too."  
  
"Cheers, Harry," said Sirius, pulling the ribbon off and letting it fall to the carpet. "Oh, nice, Harry," he commented as he pulled a new (and clean) shirt out of the wrapping paper. "Very nice." He held it up to his chest and nodded approvingly, pulling the cuffs down to his wrists to make sure it fit. "Should I put it on now?" he asked Harry, grinning again.  
  
Harry shrugged bashfully, pleased that Sirius liked his present so much. "If you want," he said, watching Sirius as he pulled off his tatty green- knitted jumper, exposing his pale, scarred chest.  
  
Harry's eyes narrowed as he surveyed his godfather critically. Sirius stopped what he was doing with his head half-way through the neck-opening (he hadn't bothered to undo the buttons). His eyes darted around the room, half expecting to find another cause for Harry's obvious dismay.  
  
"...What?" Sirius said awkwardly.  
  
Harry frowned and his eyes met those of his Godfather's. "What the hell did they do to you in Azkaban?"  
  
Immediately, Sirius's expression became clouded, and he quickly pulled his head through the opening and smoothed the shirt down. He didn't answer Harry.  
  
"Sirius," Harry pressed. "Is that what they do to prisoners? Beat them up?"  
  
Sirius turned away, suddenly seeming very interested indeed with the Christmas decorations. Harry waited for an answer, as Sirius began fiddling nervously with a stray thread off the couch. "They don't beat you at Azkaban," he began suddenly, causing Harry to jump slightly. He glared into the fireplace. "I got these scars trying to escape. Not for being caught at it." He gave a disgusted laugh. "Dementors can't beat people," he shuddered visibly despite the warmth of the Living Room. "They don't need to,"  
  
Harry didn't know what to say. He stood there, feeling like a right bastard for forcing Sirius to tell him something he so obviously wanted to forget.  
  
"But I'm just glad now that I'm out of that shit-hole," Sirius announced loudly, turning to look at Harry, the lines of age visible on his weathered face. "It took a lot out of me, I tell you what," he laughed shortly and humourlessly. "Speaking of Azkaban, I hear that Lucius Malfoy's on the loose," he said, purposely changing the sugject.  
  
Harry nodded abruptly. "He was let of of Azkaban a while ago. They say he was innocent all along. A Ministry mistake."  
  
Sirius gave him a grim look, shaking his head disgustedly. "Lucius Malfoy could talk his way out of a paper bag. Back on as School Governor, I hear? Ministry compensation, the whole works?"  
  
Harry grimaced. "Yeah," he said quietly.  
  
"You just stay out of his way," Sirius said quickly, his tone causing Harry to look up at him sharply. "I've known him in the past. I know what he can do."  
  
"Me too," Harry remarked quietly, remembering back to his fourth year, at the Riddle's Graveyard.  
  
"Then you'd know what I mean. He's dangerous. Lucius is one of Voldemorts most trusted servants. He's clever, Harry - he has both Voldemort and bloody Fudge behind him, and he's more than capable of murdering any one of you-"  
  
"Do you think that I don't know this?" Harry snapped at him viciously, his voice shaking in sudden anger. "Do you honestly think I sit up in my little dormitory bed and twiddle my thumbs all day long? I'm the one who saw him at Voldemort's re-birth! I know, Sirius! I know better than anybody, better than - than - YOU!"  
  
Sirius sighed, looking very old and tired again. "Yes, yes, I know. Sometimes I really wish you would sit in your dormitory bed and twiddle your thumbs, none the wiser. At least then you'd be out of harm's way," he gave Harry a worried sort of half-smile. "But I know you'll never do that. You're too much like I was. Too much like James."  
  
Harry looked away quickly, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, ok, that's enough of that sentimentality," he said shortly, glaring at the hearth rug moodily. There was an awkward silence between them. He looked back up at Sirius, who was wearing a very curious expression. Harry, completely bemused, gave him a questioningly look, before Sirius burst out laughing. Harry felt a grin tug at his lips but furiously tried to stop it.  
  
"Sentimentality?" Sirius gasped between bouts of laughter. "You're so RIGHT, Harry! God, I never thought of it like that! 'Harry, your Father would have been proud, I'm sure he watches over you and protects you.'" He gave a howl of laughter, and Harry couldn't help but join him this time. Harry straightened up and tried to compose himself. "Sober up, you idiot," he tried to scold Sirius, who was still laughing whole-heartedly. Finally, Sirius straightened and coughed once or twice to clear his throat of stray sniggers.  
  
"Ok, Harry," he began. "Its Christmas, so I'll make a deal with you. I won't talk about Lucius, or Voldemort, if you don't talk anymore about scars and Azkaban, ok?"  
  
Harry grinned for the first time since their unfortunate bend in conversation, and punched Sirius affectionately. "Deal," he said, before grabbing Sirius by the arm as he swayed.  
  
"Come on, you decrepit old man, let's get some dinner into you. "  
  
"Hey, Harry," Fred was saying with cheeky, fake admiration. "Seeing as you're, like... THE youngest Seeker of the century, and, like, THE Boy Who Lived, that, like, automatically makes you Quidditch Captain for our special Christmas match!"  
  
Harry, who had been in the process of putting his boots on for an afternoon out in the snow, raised his eyebrows at him. "Shut up, Fred," he said shortly, shaking his head as the twins dissolved into overly sarcastic girlish giggles.  
  
"We're being serious, Harry!" Fred laughed out loud. "Well, sort of anyway," he sniggered as George gave him a sneery look and a whack on the back. "Nah, anyway - oh, shut up, George - we're seriously having a Christmas Quidditch match. And you're the Captain of one of the teams. So feel priveleged," he concluded, before turning around and leaping over to the others. "He said he'll do it!" he cried to them. Harry smiled and rolled his eyes, before making his way towards the group.  
  
"Ginny's the other Captain." George messaged to him. "Coz she's your girlfriend," he added slyly. Harry gave him a blank look. How did he-?  
  
"That's right, Harry, we all know," Bill laughed, thumping him on the back. "We've known for ages." Harry gave Ginny a panicked look, but she just smiled in an embarrassed way and shrugged slightly.  
  
"How did you-?" he began, but Fred cut him off.  
  
"Bit obvious. Especially when Bill and Fleur are doing 'ze exact zem zing', hey Miss Veela?" Fleur had the decency to blush, while George dissolved once again into hysterical laughter.  
  
"Ok, shut up, you two," Bill ordered them, a little too quickly, his face still holding a tell-tale blush of red. "Let's get this game moving. Ginny, get your arse over here next to Harry, you're picking your teams." Ginny quickly moved to stand next to Harry, giving him a mischievous grin as he glanced down at her.  
  
"Choose your teams and stop perving on each other," Fred complained quickly, annoyed at having to stand in the cold doing nothing.  
  
"Oh - right," Harry stammered. "Uh - Charlie, you're with me," he called to the second oldest Weasley. Charlie walked proudly to Harry's side, obviously pleased to be the first picked.  
  
"Bill," Ginny called, and he moved to stand, just as proudly, beside his team captain.  
  
"Ron," Harry said and watched Ron bound happily to his side.  
  
"Fleur," Ginny stated.  
  
"Hermione."  
  
"Wait a sec!" There was a call from over at the house, and Sirius came striding over. "Aren't I invited to play?" He asked them, eyebrows raised questioningly.  
  
Ginny grinned at him. "Guess who's pick it is, Harry?" she sniggered. "Sirius, you're with me."  
  
Harry scowled. "Fine," he said shortly, glaring at her triumphant face. "You won't win, though," he teased.  
  
"Last two to be picked, that'd be right, hey, George?" Fred was grumbling to his brother. "Nice of them, REAL nice of them..."  
  
"George!" Harry called out.  
  
Fred's face was mutinous. "DEAD last to be picked! I WAS a Hogwart's beater, thanks very much, which is more than I can say for-"  
  
"Fred, get over here, looks like I'm left with you," Ginny laughed as Fred, still grumbling, sulked over to join her team.  
  
The match's rules were a little different to usual, being there less players on each side. On Harry's team, he of course was made Seeker, while Charlie and Hermione were made Chasers. George was their one Beater, and Ron was made their Keeper. On Ginny's team, she, being the team captain, was also made Seeker. Sirius and Fleur were made Chasers, Fred was their Beater, and Bill their Keeper.  
  
The match turned out quite fair. Both Captains had Orbits, both Bill and Charlie had recently purchased Fleetwood Zaps, Fleur owned a Whizzbeevis 360, Ron was on his Nimbus, Sirius on a Firebolt, and Hermione, Fred and George on Cleansweeps. Of course, due to the fact that everyone knew they were on the crappest Brooms on the pitch, the two boys took to mocking Ginny and Harry by proudly showing off their Cleansweeps by doing victory- laps around the treetops. Mr and Mrs Weasley agreed to referee the match, and the goals were made to be two trees on opposite ends of the Quidditch field.  
  
Mr Weasley released the Snitch and the Bludgers, and then, with a resounding blow on his newly-acquired whistle (it came in the Quidditch box Mr and Mrs Weasley had given their children for Christmas), the Quaffle was thrown and the game began.  
  
The pitch exploded with excitement as Charlie, Hermione, Sirius and Fleur all leapt forward on their brooms towards the Quaffle. Charlie reached it first and was quick to pass it to Hermione, who did a surprisingly good job at avoiding Fred's bludger sent straight at her face. She dropped the Quaffle as Mr Weasley blew his whistle. "Penalty to the Potter Team! Fred - you can't do that! And lay off Hermione will you, she hasn't had as much experience as you boys."  
  
Play resumed, and Hermione had a shot at goal. The Quaffle actually seemed as though it might make it through the gap between the trees, before Bill caught it by the tips of his fingers and threw it at Sirius. "Dammit," Hermione swore, and spun around to career (not so carefully this time) up towards the other end, where Sirius and Fleur were peppering Ron's trees with the Quaffle. A goal went through after numerous attempts by Fleur, and the Ginny Team were ten up.  
  
It was very cold up on the broom, away from the heat of play. The Snitch hadn't shown itself at all, and Harry had taken to launching himself at particular shiny snowflakes which looked (at that moment) as if they might turn into Snitches. The trees at the end of the garden path looked very frost-bitten, and Harry - his teeth chattering - couldn't help but commiserate with them. He knew how they felt.  
  
There was a whoop of delight from below, and Harry saw Charlie and Hermione whizzing around their goalposts, having just scored their first goal. Even scores now. Cheering, and clapping from the side-lines, Mr and Mrs Weasley congratulated an elated Hermione on her first goal - ever. Sirius was given the Quaffle, and he took off with it at such a pace that Fleur had trouble keeping up. He threw it to her and she ducked George, who had taken a swipe at her with his Beater's bat, and threw the Quaffle hard at the gap between the trees. However, Ron blocked it by the tail of his broom and Hermione caught it as it dropped, heading off again towards the other end.  
  
Harry glanced towards the sun. It was giving off a golden glow, turning the snow-white trees alight with fiery magnificence, and Harry - just for a moment - gave up looking for the Snitch to concentrate on the beauty of the winter light. He could see Ginny, hovering over by his team's goal posts, her eyes wide open and darting from here to there. He grinned to himself, watching her shake her curly red hair free of snow. She really was quite the loveliest creature he'd ever seen, but he didn't allow himself the luxury of gazing at her for long - afterall, he couldn't give her the chance of catching the Snitch before him and winning the game. He'd never hear the end of it - being beaten by his girlfriend. But he seriously doubted she'd beat him anyway. He was the professional Seeker, not her. He was certain he'd win.  
  
"FRED!" There was a bellow down below, and Harry spun around to watch. Mr Weasley was blowing his whistle repeatedly. "For God's SAKES, Fred, you can't handle the Quaffle when you're a BEATER!" Fred, Quaffle in hand, was glaring down at his father from where he sat, poised on his broom, about to throw the Quaffle at Ron.  
  
"Yeah well, Dad, I can't HIT anyone, and I can't get any points, so where's the fun in life?" he yelled back, turning again to throw the Quaffle at Ron's face.  
  
"And leave your brothers ALONE!" Mrs Weasley yelled at him. Fred gave a frustrated shout and threw the Quaffle to Charlie. "Take the goddamn Quaffle and lose, you sucker," he said bitterly, and turned back to fend off the bludgers.  
  
Mr Weasley shook his head sadly, but Harry could see, even from their distance apart, that he had a smile on his face. The whistle was blown for play to resume, and Charlie quickly scored another goal, making the scores 10-20, the Potter Team's way.  
  
"This is crap." Fred was heard complaining. "Absolute cra- SHIT!" A bludger, hit by George, almost took him off his broom, as he spun around to avoid it. "Funny, funny, Georgey-boy," he snapped at his laughing twin, glowering.  
  
The game was fast-paced and brutal, but quite low-scoring. By 4pm, the Potter Team were on 50, while the Ginny Team were on 30. It was beginning to get dark, and Harry was starting to think, for the first time, that he may not actually catch the Snitch - for the simple reason that his hands were pretty well frozen to his broomstick. Ginny, too, was looking blue around the lips, and he could see her shoulders shaking violently from where he sat gazing numbly around the field. The wind was beginning to pick up, and the clouds hung heavy above them, threatening a downfall of snow. "Snitch, Snitch, show up, would you!" Harry chattered to himself, his body numb.  
  
"Goal!" Hermione was screaming excitedly down below. The Potter's were now on 60-30, but Harry couldn't even grin, he was so frozen. He distinctly heard Ginny's cry of despair as Mr Weasley called the updated scores out, and revelled in it - his team had to win now. If only he could find that-  
  
"No!"  
  
Ginny was careering at a ridiculous speed down the pitch away from him. By the concentrating, furiously determined look on her face, she wasn't feinting - she'd seen the Snitch. Harry spun around and sped after her. He could see the Snitch now, but Ginny was much closer than he was.  
  
"Give up, Ginny!" He called out to her as he gathered speed, gaining on her from the left. "I'm going to get this Snitch first if it costs me my life!"  
  
Ginny didn't turn around to answer him, instead, she screamed out against the roaring of the wind speeding by them, "Harry, there is no WAY you're getting this one!"  
  
Harry was close enough to grab onto the back of her robes. "Yeah right," he muttered, his eyes feverishly focussed on nothing but the golden ball ahead of them.  
  
Suddenly, the Snitch veered sharply to the right, and before Harry could react, Ginny had leapt off her broom and launched herself, mid-air, at the Snitch. He was on the wrong side of her, he realised too late. Completely, unluckily wrong-footed, and he knew then that he didn't have a chance. He watched in helpless dismay as her hand closed over the sparkling metal ball, and she shrieked triumphantly as she began to fall downwards. The drop wasn't much - five feet or so - and she fell onto soft snow. Her hand shot up, still tightly gripping the Snitch, and she laughed out loud to herself. Harry could tell that she was utterly amazed - and bloody cocky - that she'd beaten him.  
  
Ginny's team of Bill, Fleur, Fred and Sirius sped towards her on their brooms, cheering and screaming that they'd "beaten Potter", leaping off to clap her back and congratulate her as if she were a triumphant warrior.  
  
Ron yelled at Harry from over at the trees. "Harry - why the hell didn't you get that Snitch?" His face was crestfallen, as was Charlie's, Hermione's and George's. "You're meant to WIN, Harry - not lose it to your girlfriend! Are you the Pro-Seeker or what?"  
  
Harry opened his mouth, trying to think of something to justify his loss, but laughter was choking his voice. "I - uh, I let her win," he stammered. "Felt- felt sorry for her team."  
  
Ron gave him a disbelieving look, shook his head and sank to the ground. "Well, that sucks. You shouldn't have been so chivalrous, Harry. Always gotta be the gentleman, don't you?"  
  
Harry couldn't help but grin to himself. He flew to the ground and hopped off his broom, moving to shake hands with the winning captain. "Well done," he said to Ginny, his eyes twinkling into her excited ones. She was breathing hard, her face glowing with elation, her hair all over the place from the fast and furious flight. "But I let you win," he sniggered. Ginny narrowed her eyes at him, but her smile didn't faulter. "If it makes you feel better, keep telling yourself that, Harry Potter," she answered primly. "But meanwhile, if you don't mind, I'm off to get drunk with my triumphant team-mates."  
  
"Oh no, you're NOT," Mrs Weasley had come over to congratulate the winning side. "Your celebration consists of a Christmas Bonbon, Ginevra Weasley, not a bottle of your Father's firewhisky."  
  
"Oh, MUM," Fred began, highly affronted. "We just beat Harry Potter - Quidditch Extraordinaire, The Boy Who Lived! You can't honestly expect us to just sit around cracking bonbons and watching the Carol Singers! You've gotta be kidding!"  
  
"Sounds like a nice night to me..." Mr Weasley began, but was promptly cut off by ten voices all arguing at once. "All right, all right, you can have some butterbeer," Mr Weasley yelled over the top of them. "But nothing more. No-" he shouted, as everyone commenced their complaining. "That's the way it's gotta be, my little loves. Butterbeer for the lot of you."  
  
"And don't argue!" Mrs Weasley warned them all. "Now get inside right now, before you all catch your death of cold."  
  
Everyone filed back into the warmth of the Burrow and huddled around the fireplace. "That was actually quite a good grab, you know, Ginny," Ron admitted after his hands had thawed out.  
  
Harry gave him a hurt look. "Hey - what are you talking about - we lost!" he joked to him.  
  
Ron nodded acceptingly. "Yeah, but you have to give credit when credit's due. And it's not often that Ginny beats you, Harry. It's not often that anyone beats you."  
  
"Ginny, maybe you should be a Seeker?" Hermione added.  
  
"Oh, fair go!" Harry cried. "You are forgetting that I'M Gryffindor's current Seeker, Hermione. And I'm not going anywhere."  
  
"I'm just saying that Ginny has talent to become a wonderful Seeker, nothing more, so let's just leave it at that, shall we, Harry?" Hermione answered kindly.  
  
"Let's," Harry commented dryly, before turning to wrap his arms around Ginny. She leant into him and watched as everyone wandered off to different parts of the house. "You didn't really let me win, did you Harry?" she asked him suddenly. Harry grinned to himself. He knew she'd be bothered by him saying that. She liked to win fair and square just as much as he did.  
  
"Nah, I didn't," he began, and he could feel Ginny's pleasure. "You actually did wrong-foot me that time. Pretty unlucky, but yeah, you did beat me fairly."  
  
"Sure did," came Sirius's cheeky reply. "She kicked your arse real good," he sniggered. He was holding a bottle of butterbeer and he leant casually against the heater.  
  
"I'm aware of that, Sirius," Harry told him blandly.  
  
Sirius chuckled to himself. "Nah, it was a good game, though. Everyone played well." he seemed to think about something for a few seconds. "Did you know - up until today, I hadn't played Quidditch for about twenty years."  
  
Harry smirked. "That would explain why you were so bad, then."  
  
"Very funny, Harry," Sirius joked, leaning over to ruffle Harry's already messy hair. "That was a good one..." He grinned fondly at his god-son, before shaking his head and taking another swig from his bottle. "Anyway, gotta dash," he announced suddenly, hoisting himself away from the heater. "I've already said good-bye to everyone else. Or those that weren't locked in bedrooms, anyway," he winked at Harry good-naturedly.  
  
"You've got to go already?" Harry found himself complaining. "You've only been here a few hours!"  
  
Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, can't stay around for too long. Gotta get back to the house, feed Buckbeak, that sort of thing."  
  
Harry gave a disappointed sigh. "Right-o," he said quietly. Sirius moved forward and gave Harry a big, manly hug. "It's been great to see you, Harry. Been some time, hey mate?" Harry nodded, grinning again. "Remember what I said," he added quietly, before turning to go. "Good to see you too, Ginny," he smiled at her and then headed for the door, where he wrapped his cloak around himself and picked up his Firebolt. "Seeya soon, guys," he waved goodbye and then opened the door and was gone. Harry couldn't help but feel a great sadness descend on him at the absence of Sirius, and he also felt a uneasiness settle in the pit of his stomache at Sirius's words. "Remember what I said". He knew he was talking about Lucius Malfoy, but he found that he didn't want to remember what Sirius had said at all.  
  
Ginny turned around to face him, her arms going around his neck. He decided to think about what Sirius had said later; right now, he had his beautiful girlfriend in his arms, and he wasn't going to waste that. He reached out and stroked her cheek with his fingertips, brushing back the wild and tangled hair from her face. Ginny closed her eyes at his touch and eagerly anticipated the kiss which came moments later. However, just as they were getting going, a pair of socks hit Harry in the back of the head.  
  
"That's disgusting you two! Eugh!" Fred and George were howling their affront on the lounge room couch, obviously rather revolted. "Get a room, you sickos. Filthy..."  
  
Harry turned back to Ginny and smiled. "Shall we?" he picked up two bottle of Butterbeer from the table and together, they made their way upstairs. 


	20. The Coming Storm

It was a rainy January morning, and people were up early getting ready. Half asleep in her bed, Ginny, with a sinking feeling, knew why. The snow had melted, and the first day of the new term dawned cold and dismally grey. The holidays had just flown past, from that day Ginny spotted Draco in Diagon Alley, to her and Harry's little bust up and make up on Christmas Day, the present-giving, and the lazy days following ... recovering and mending.

To Ginny, it now seemed that both she and Harry were back on track with each other and she felt as if their love had grown, although she knew that she had been tried and tested in the past weeks. There was more to Harry than she had ever thought possible. Not just with the stress of school, the usual problems with teenage guys, and the fact that he was Harry Potter, but also that he carried a heavy burden no one else could understand. There were great expectations on Harry from the Wizarding world; if Voldemort arose again, it would be Harry's job and Harry's job alone, to save them. And Harry had been moody and quiet as a result. A newspaper article in the Daily Prophet a week ago had confirmed an uprising against the Ministry, and there was no doubt who Harry believed to be behind it.

Brushing those heavy thoughts aside, Ginny got up and dressed herself quickly, made her bed and collected a few things from the dressing table. She finished stuffing her belongings into her already over-filled trunk, and then, closing it with an effort, she gave her bedroom one last look and headed downstairs.

It was bustling in the kitchen, everyone was flying all over the place. Ginny laughed as she saw her mother trying to flip pancakes, which seemed to be going horribly wrong. She figured that Fred and George had something to do with that, as they galloped around the kitchen purposely hiding things to make people late. She picked up a pancake and spread it with some jam and cream before making her way outside with it in hand.

Harry was leaning by one of the Vauxhall Astra's reading the early paper, and looking as if he hadn't seen a brush in a decade. A frown creased his forehead, but when he saw Ginny, he looked up and smiled, closing the paper and moving to help her with her trunk. He didn't say anything and she didn't want to ask.

Ginny plonked herself soggily down onto the seat, nearly tripping as the train carriage jolted forward suddenly. The window was fogged up and dark, the rain had stopped, but it was windy and cold nonetheless.

"It would be a lovely day, wouldn't it," she grumbled to herself as Harry, Ron and Hermione filed in after her. It was the end of the Christmas holidays and they were travelling back to school on the Hogwarts Express, albeit rather grumpily, as none of them, not even Harry, had felt like leaving the Burrow.

"Suits my mood," Ron commented, sitting next to the window and looking gloomily out. "I really feel like going back to school, man..."

Harry sat down next to Ginny and pulled his gloves off absent-mindedly. His hair was smooth for once - the rain had flattened it, making him look something similar to a drowned rat. The others didn't look much better.

"I'm dripping wet," Hermione exclaimed, shrugging her heavy wet coat off and throwing it on the empty seat next to her. Ginny did the same and then pulled her sopping hair away from her face.

"I'm gonna go and get myself cleaned up," she winced as she wiped her wet face and liquid mascara ran onto her fingers. "I'm pretty sure I look like a total witch."

"Imagine that," Harry grinned to the others.

Ginny sent him a sarcastic smile as she walked out of the compartment. "Smart Harry, real smart..." She rolled her eyes affectionately, grinning despite herself. She made her way slowly to the back of the train where the toilets were, hating the way her wet fabric chafed against her skin. Reaching the toilets, she locked the door behind her and pulled off her wet jacket. She tilted her head to one side as she regarded herself in the small mirror. She had gotten a necklace from Harry for Christmas - he had given her a present after all. It was quite nice, a tiny rose gold phoenix, and now it felt cold against her skin. Her hair was hanging in tangles around her face and her mascara had run down her cheeks in chocolate brown rivulets. She laughed softly, glad she hadn't met anyone on her way down the train, because she really did look a fright.

About five minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom with her hair pulled back into a rather messy ponytail and her face wiped clean of make-up residue. She turned around and began to hurry back along the corridor, when the train lurched forward so violently that she tripped forward and only just had time to grab onto the wall for support.

She was about to keep moving when a dark figure caught her eye outside the train. It had started to rain again, but this creature was moving quickly through the blanketing darkness, and she could tell it wasn't human. It's black silhouette was blurred, but she could see it's eyes glowing a dull red against the dwindling light. It turned towards her suddenly, and a chill shot through her body. She barely had time to recoil back in horror when another lurch threw her forward, and she whacked her head against a wooden panel before hitting the floor. She could hear shrieks and yells of protest coming from inside compartments, and her head began to throb dully. What the hell was happening?

Strong hands suddenly closed about her shoulders, pulling her up, and before she could react, she was staring into the panicked green eyes of her boyfriend.

"Gin, are you ok?" Harry asked hurriedly as the train shuddered again, pushing them both into the door of a compartment. Ginny gripped Harry's shirt front for support as the train stilled for a moment.

"Fine," Ginny answered vaguely as she tried to see out of the foggy windows for any sign of the dark figure. "There's something out there, Harry..."

"I know, I saw them. I think it's-" The train suddenly screeched violently, giving a final lurch which sent Harry and Ginny sprawling on the floor of the carriage. "We're stopping," Harry murmured, holding Ginny safely against him as the train screeched to a halt. "What the hell is going on..."

Shouts and screams filled the carriage as students opened their compartment doors and stumbled into the corridor. A few tried to run, but there was no where to go. Neville and Seamus fainted, most just stared, wide-eyed, out of the window of the train, which had now stopped dead. The light bulbs above the students heads' suddenly and without warning exploded into a shower of hot glass, plunging everyone into semi-darkness.

Harry grabbed Ginny around the waist and hauled her with him, through the commotion towards their compartment. Glancing over her shoulder as panicked students rushed past her, she caught a glimpse of silver hair and pale eyes in the darkness. Draco was leaning against a carriage window, slightly illuminated by the faint grey light outside, untouched and unfazed by the chaos swarming about him. His gaze was focussed on something outside the train, but he glanced up quickly as Ginny was pushed forward and their eyes met for the briefest moment before he turned his face away and moved from the window and into shadow.

"SHIT!" they could hear Ron yelling. They reached the compartment and could vaguely make out Hermione perched nervously on the edge of her seat. Ron was staring out the window. He turned as they stumbled in, and they could see his face was as white as a ghost. "Holy shit you guys, what the hell is going on? I saw something - there's something running around out there, I mean, something really scary looking. And more than one of them." His mouth gaped with the shock of it and he moved quickly away from the window.

"They're werewolves," Hermione said shakily, looking anxiously at Harry. Ginny's face went pale. "What are werewolves doing chasing the Hogwarts Express?" She asked faintly.

Hermione shook her head helplessly but didn't say anything. It was getting too dark to see anything out the window, but they didn't think anything had come past recently, or gotten onto the train. Harry was just moving to check the quietened commotion outside their compartment when fluorescent lights suddenly flickered to life above their heads and they could feel the train beginning to come to chug beneath them.

Ron let out a breath of relief, but no one said anything. No one could quite believe what had happened. What was happening. Suddenly, the door to their compartment slid open and McGonagall stood there with a very anxious expression on her lined face.

"There's nothing to worry about," she smiled anxiously at them, clearly trying to mask her concern for the sake of the students. "Just a short delay due to the bad weather, among other things."

"Other things starting with werewolves," Ron sputtered nervously, making frantic pointing gestures out the window.

"This will be fully addressed as soon as you reach Hogwarts. That's all I can say on the matter for the time being." And with that, she turned and hurried down the corridor.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered, turning back to the window, where the train was slowly chugging past Nettlesworth Station. His eyes grew suddenly wide. "Harry! Quick!" Harry, Ginny and Hermione hurried to the window and peered out with wide, apprehensive eyes, through the darkness and rain.

Nettlesworth Station was barely lit, but they could make out a few shadowy figures running along it. There were shapes on the ground which were not moving at all. A strange black liquid patched the platform with dark stains, and the windows of the station were smashed. The people in the train were suddenly very quiet.

Ginny gasped suddenly, her hand to her mouth. The dark shapes running along the platform were not human. The shapes on the ground were. And the dark stains spreading from them looked horribly like blood.

"Shit," Harry murmured in horror, his gaze fixed on the massacre they were quickly moving away from. The others didn't move, didn't say a thing until the train had long left Nettlesworth Station behind. They were all thinking, how could this happen? Who could have done it? But they all knew the answer.

Voldemort.

FINISH

This story can be seen as a single story OR as belonging in 2 parts. The SEQUEL (uploaded soon) continues on this story, 6 months from now, at the start of the New Year term.

You and ONE Other – Amongst the Ruins enters Harry's final Year at Hogwarts. This will be a more mature fan fiction, but written the same way. Stay tuned, there IS more coming. THANKYOU for being so patient with us! And we hope you enjoy what's to come ….


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